Having a mother who was a wonderful seamstress exposed Jeannine to the joy of sewing at a young age. But she didn’t discover that joy for herself until, as a young mother, she acquired her first sewing machine. As a young wife and mother she learned that she loved the home arts like cooking, gardening, canning, crafting and sewing, while also being a woman who worked in the modern world. Raising two children, renovating a Victorian home, volunteering in her church and working kept her very busy during her earlier years and though she really wanted to learn to quilt, somehow she didn’t get the opportunity until 2003, when she took her first quilting class. Her new passion was born!

In 2009 she pieced her first real bed quilt to send with her daughter to college. After that, Jeannine joined her local quilt guild and began learning more. She began free motion quilting on her domestic machine, but desired more opportunity for quilting. In 2015, after 29 years of working as a medical lab technician, she ended her old career to begin planning a new venture in longarm quilting . Her previously loved HQ Avanté® with Pro-Stitcher® was purchased in 2016 and with the support of her wonderful husband, Mark, in 2017 Chickadee Cottage Quilting was born! In the four years that followed the business grew rapidly, creating a need for a new HQ Infinity® to be added to her studio. She has become an award winning quilter, earning awards for her professional quilting for 3 years in a row. She has learned a great deal since opening her business and looks forward to a continuation of learning and growing in the quilting industry.

Because she loves working with people, and encouraging and guiding them through the quilting process, she is excited to be a part of the Handi Quilter team of educators! Jeannine says, “Handi Quilter gives us so many tools to help us express our creativity…the only question is: Where do you start?”