People come first at Homestead Quilting and Fabric

LAKEVILLE — For Michelle Medeiros, the owner of Homestead Quilting and Fabric, business isn’t about sales. 

It’s about people. 

She said she remembers a day when a woman came to her store at 54 Main St., fabric in hand, searching for material to match. The customer planned to make a baby quilt for her daughter who was about to give birth. 

Medeiros took the woman through shelves stocked with a rainbow of fabric, helping her select what she would need to complete the project. 

Soon the same quilter returned to the store, this time with the finished quilt, thrilled to show off the gift for her new grandchild. 

“That story happens over and over,” Medeiros said. “People come in and they want to make something that has meaning for a family member or a friend.”

She said she’s not trying to push people to buy anything from her, she just wants to help people find what they need and provide a pleasant experience at her store. 

This dedication to customer service brought her all the way to Washington this month, where she was among 100 small businesses honored by the U.S. Chamber of Congress. 

After successfully applying for several other federal grant opportunities, Medeiros’ grant writer encouraged her to submit her business for the chamber’s consideration. 

She included her story of helping the woman with her baby quilt as part of her application, saying it reflected her emphasis on customer service. 

“I guess they agreed,” she said about her selection as an honoree. 

“It was just such an honor to be chosen,” she added. “There were almost 13,000 applicants so to be one of the 100 chosen — I was shocked.”

During her three-day trip to the capital, she networked with fellow business owners, attended seminars and celebrated her selection. 

Medeiros was first introduced to quilting in high school during a home economics class. She said each student had to complete several sewing projects, and said quilting was more forgiving and rewarding than the clothes she also had to make. 

“I enjoyed it, and I ended up making a couple more on my own. I just kind of went with it,” she said.

She said she took a break from quilting during college and the early years of having a family. In that time she only made a few for her children when they were young. 

Years later, she started taking classes at a now-closed Middleboro craft store and reignited her love for the craft.

With all the responsibilities of running a store, she said she doesn’t get much time for quilting anymore. Most of the projects she does complete are samples of products or equipment she carries, and cover the walls of her store.

Her proudest creation hangs in the back corner, a piece she uses to show off her longarm quilting machine — used to stitch all the layers of a quilt together — that customers can pay to use. 

It’s a massive quilt, with an array of colors and patterns arranged against a white background. She said she used scrap fabrics stowed in a back room, blindly grabbing each piece out for a randomized effect. 

“I didn’t think it was really much of anything, but everyone who comes in loves that quilt,” Medeiros said. “I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s just a scrap quilt,’ but everyone gravitates towards it.”

She said her artistic side is relatively new, and is something she is still exploring and improving on. Her career ties lie more on the business side. 

Medeiros graduated from Stonehill College with a business administration degree and worked in finance before returning to school for her masters and opening the store. 

She said she was burnt out by her finance profession. At the suggestion of her late friend, she started looking for a space to rent and researching how to open her own business.

“It just sort of happened, things just fell into place,” Medeiros said. “It wasn’t like I ever had a dream to do this, I just did it.”

Medeiros runs the store herself, although she does hire several teachers to lead classes for beginners through advanced quilters. 

She said she wants her store to be a safe, happy and relaxed place for her customers, and said she rarely has a negative person enter. 

This approach creates an inviting atmosphere, with many repeat customers. She said she knows many of the people who come through her door and stays up-to-date on the happenings of their lives. 

“I have a little wooden plaque right inside the door that says ‘Enter as strangers, leave as friends,’ and you do. You really get to know people,” Medeiros said.