Japan-bound

This week I dropped off my quilt at Common Thread Studio. I was very excited about making a quilt for charity and while I was making it I prayed for and thought a lot about the people that were devastated by the Japan quake. But when I finished the quilt and drove it to Common Thread to drop it off, it was a bitter-sweet moment. It really took a lot for me to let go. I'm telling you, had it not been for the dedication on the quilt, I might have just kept it. I know it sounds terrible. I just have never experienced that feeling before with any of the other quilts I have made as gifts. Maybe it's because I have always made them for people with whom I have a connection and I know that I will again cross paths with my quilts. With this one, not only is it going to a person that I have never met before, it will make the journey to Japan. Chances are, I will never see it again.

The only things that made it easier, aside from knowing that it will warm up a deserving soul, were the arms that received it at the shop. Jin Kim, the owner of Common Thread is a sweetheart and was very welcoming and generous with her compliments on the quilt. So I left it in her arms and prayed that Strawberry Fields does its job when it gets to Japan.

I know that you can't read the dedication. It reads, "To my friend in Japan. This quilt was made for you with love and prayers. Sara Casillas, Whittier, California."


This is the first time I tied a quilt and I loved it. It is so much easier and quicker than quilting.

I just love the colors of the quilt. They remind me of the bouquet of rananculus I had in the family room while I was making the quilt.


On other news, Viviana and Nico helped me make banana cupcakes with peanut butter chocolate frosting. Oh, that reminds me, I forgot to tell you that I had made these cupcakes for my coworker, Rachel's birthday. I will have to tell you about that later.





They are such good little bakers!

Quilting and Watching and Quilting and Cooking...

Me: This weekend was fabulous!

You: Fabulous? Did you travel? Did you go to a party? Did you go shopping?

Me: No. I didn't do any of those things. With the exception of a couple of errands and Mass on Sunday, I stayed indoors. To be exact, the radius of my travels this weekend rarely reached farther than the kitchen and family room. It was like room arrest instead of house arrest. Only it was completely and blissfully voluntary.

Of course, the motivation for my confinement was two-fold; (1) The Kennedy mini-series marathon on TV and (2) I decided to make a quilt for the Quilt for Quake Survivors quilt drive.

Mateo was out all day at a Scouting event, Mr. Casillas was milling about in the backyard, and I parked myself in front of my sewing machine and sewed. In order for me to achieve my first goal, which was to watch the entire mini-series marathon, I had Mr. Casillas put up a fold out table in our family room to prop my sewing machine on it. This way, I was able to multitask; I could sew and watch. With this arrangement, I also managed to get some cooking done. On Saturday morning I threw some stuff in the crock pot and out came a beef stew. Sunday, I put a chicken in the oven to roast. I used the Crisp Skinned with Rosemary Potatoes recipe from the January 2011 issue of MS Living. It was yummy!





By the end of the weekend I had all 12 blocks completed and pieced together.


I've always liked pink and red and it works on this quilt. The green popping off the pink and red reminds me of strawberries.



I will call this quilt Strawberry Fields. Strawberries are the quintessential feel good fruit. Their sweet taste reminds me of lazy summer days. There is nothing more endearing to me than to see a fragile little strawberry growing in a garden. So vulnerable to the elements but if it survives, it is the most delicious and sweet treat nature has to offer. As I made this quilt I thought about the victims and survivors of Japan. I prayed that in their effort to rebuild their villages and lives, and remember their lost loved ones, that they somehow retain their tenderness and sweetness. I am not a Pollyanna. I know that their lives have been turned upside down but I pray that somehow my quilt and all of the other quilts which will be donated, somehow lets them know that they are cared for and loved by others that do not know them. That there is still some goodness, kindness, and sweetness in the world.



Here is the top of the quilt all pieced together. All I need to do now is layer it with the batting and back of the quilt and attach the binding. I see another weekend of room arrest in my near future.

We want you! We want you as a new recruit!

I am dating myself with that slogan, aren't I? Mateo's boyscout troop had a recruitment night the other night and it was pretty successful. We had a few of his school mates join, which is awesome! We were asked to bring some snacks to offer our visitors and I made these sugar cookies. I found the fleur des lis cookie cutter at the scout shop when Mateo was a cub scout and never really found the opportunity to use it until now. My plan was to decorate the cookies a little more elabortately but I ran out of time and settled for plain royal icing. I think the blue color is more fitting for a cub scout event but oh well. They tasted good and I think that's what people cared about. A couple of pictures from the event:

The cookies

Mateo delivered a speech on Summer Camp

He is a natural public speaker. I am amazed at how comfortable he is addressing a crowd of parents and peers. That's my boy!

Nickle and Dining

The other day, Mateo and Horacio met me after work and we went to the Nickle Diner for dinner in Downtown L.A. If you drive past it without knowing it's there, you'll keep driving. The storefront of the restaurant is so small and so understated, you would never know that what waits inside is the best comfort food in town.

I ordered the Catfish which is supposed to be their signature dish. It did not disappoint. The fish is not battered. Instead it is crusted with pecans and perched atop a bed of sweet corn cake. On the side were the tastiest brussel sprouts. Yummy!



Mr. Casillas had the pulled pork sandwich. I wish I could describe it but it wasn't on the plate long enough for my mental notes. In a matter of brief moments and in between oohing and aahing, that thing was gone, gone, gone. I did get a bite. Very good.



Mateo had the best hamburger of his life (his words). And as it was with Mr. Casillas, that thing was put away faster than lightning.



For dessert we shared their donut with bacon crumbs on top. Yes, you read that right. Only in America can one get a donut with bacon on it. Don't knock it 'till you try it. The bacon crumbs are so small that you hardly notice them.



You must go there!