{"id":52,"date":"2016-11-07T14:23:56","date_gmt":"2016-11-07T14:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minotquilters.gofeller.com\/NewSite\/?page_id=52"},"modified":"2025-01-09T17:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T17:13:10","slug":"welcome","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/minotquilters.com\/index.php\/festival-welcome\/welcome\/","title":{"rendered":"Featured Quilter"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n

2025 <\/span>Leon\u00e9 Nera<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
\n

The featured quilter for 2025 is Leon\u00e9 Nera.  Leon\u00e9 was born and raised in South Africa and in 1999 immigrated to California with her husband, Johnny, daughter Zelda and son <\/span>Je\u00e1n<\/span>.  Leon\u00e9 and her husband Johnny will be celebrating 50 years of marriage this year.  They have six <\/span>grandchildren:<\/span> JohnRyan, Jayden, Jelissa, Jayleen, Zayne and <\/span>Mizay<\/span>.  Before immigrating to the United States, she worked for many years as an executive secretary for various corporate companies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her mom and both grandmothers were very talented in all kinds of crafts<\/span>.<\/span> Leon\u00e9 was a tomboy and always wanted to play outside, thinking she was not interested in sewing.  After her daughter was <\/span>born,<\/span> she started making outfits for her and, by trial and error, she quickly learned a lot of new skills.<\/span><\/p>\n

After Leon\u00e9 purchased a sewing machine in California, she made her very first quilt (QAYG) for her oldest grandson, who has just turned nineteen.  They lived in California for ten years, where she was introduced to quilting in 2003. She went on to take several quilting classes to learn more about quilting, as had previously only done garment construction in South Africa.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leon\u00e9, her husband and both their children were employed at a large church in California.  After being at the church for <\/span>a few<\/span> years, a fellow student whom they met at the bible school, invited them to fly out to Minot, ND to look at new opportunities.<\/span><\/p>\n

On their first visit to Minot, she prayed and asked God for a sign that this would be the right move for their family.  She told her husband that it would be a sign if she saw a Pfaff store. When she drove past Minot Vacuum & Sewing, she knew that her prayers were answered.  She ended up working at the store for a few years <\/span>when<\/span> she met Gerry Burns who introduced her to the Minot Prairie Quilt Guild.  Leon\u00e9 served as Vice President for two consecutive years.  Although her favorite quilting technique is appliqu\u00e9, she loves everything about quilting and is always eager to learn more.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leon\u00e9 also believes in passing on her knowledge to others.  She has been a teacher at several MPQG Festivals.  In 2011, Leon\u00e9 started a business\/ministry called Born2Be Creations that is based on Jeremiah 1:5 \u201cBefore I formed you in the womb, I knew you: before you were <\/span>born,<\/span> I sanctified you!\u201d.  The quilts she makes all have a positive message embroidered on them (i.e.) Born2Be An Achiever, Born2Be A Leader, Beautiful, Loved, etc.  Words are very powerful.  She went to a John Maxwell Certification Program where she was certified as a John Maxwell coach, teacher and trainer.  It was at this event that she met the CEO for Mission4Orphans.  So far, Leon\u00e9 has donated 35 quilts to this ministry who takes care of orphans in India.  They have several homes where the children are taken care of, provided with <\/span>meals,<\/span> and school is provided for them in a school bus.<\/span><\/p>\n

She believes that the positive wording on these quilts is having <\/span>a positive<\/span> impact on these children who have been rejected by their own families.  In <\/span>Leon\u00e9\u2019s<\/span> words, \u201cIt\u2019s like God wrapping His arms around these little ones, comforting them with warmth but also making them feel safe.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A quilt is not just a blanket but a labor of love that will have an impact for years to come!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2025 Leon\u00e9 Nera The featured quilter for 2025 is Leon\u00e9 Nera.  Leon\u00e9 was born and raised in South Africa and in 1999 immigrated to California with her husband, Johnny, daughter Zelda and son Je\u00e1n.  Leon\u00e9 and her husband Johnny will be celebrating 50 years of marriage this year.  They have …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":48,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-52","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","column","twocol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/minotquilters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/52","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/minotquilters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/minotquilters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minotquilters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minotquilters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/minotquilters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/52\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2609,"href":"https:\/\/minotquilters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/52\/revisions\/2609"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minotquilters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/48"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/minotquilters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}