About us
About Us: From Snowstorms to Stitches!
Welcome to Life in the Northern Neck! Our journey began in the most unexpected way—during a snowstorm in 2014, of all times. As a teacher, I knew I'd be snowed in for a few days, so naturally, I did what any new grandma would do: I ordered an embroidery machine. With our first grandbaby on the way, I decided to dive into the world of embroidery and start creating adorable things for the little guy. What started as a fun hobby quickly snowballed into something much bigger… and, well, let's just say I got hooked!
Fast Forward to Crab Hats and Machine Drama...
One spring day, after embroidering a crab on a baseball cap for myself (because, why not?), I walked into a local gift shop, and the owner fell in love with the design. Next thing I knew, I was making hats for her shop. But my poor little machine—bless its heart—was not up to the challenge. It took 60 minutes to embroider one hat, and then it broke! That’s when I realized: I needed to upgrade.
After a road trip to get the machine fixed (90 miles, but who’s counting?), I came home with a brand-new sewing/embroidery machine that could handle my workload. Or at least, I thought it could. As I learned more about thread colors, hoops, and embroidery, it became clear that one machine just wasn’t going to cut it anymore. So, in a totally predictable move (not), I came home one day with a 10-needle embroidery machine. My husband, HT, didn’t see it coming—he just gave me that classic head shake when I asked for help unloading it from the car.
Two Machines, Five Machines, Who’s Counting?
Before we knew it, HT and I were embroidering hats, placemats, towels, and baby items faster than we could keep up. Before long, we were fighting over who got to use the machine at night. The only logical solution? Buy a second machine, of course! That way, we each had a machine (marriage saved!).
We expanded our business to include all sorts of shows, traveling from Hampton to Occoquan, VA. Fast-forward to today: five - 10 needle embroidery machines (yes, five), two lasers, and a longarm quilting machine later, and we’re still going strong.
From Shows to the Web (Finally!)
After 32 years in education, I finally retired and dove headfirst into this business full-time. We did about 35-40 shows a year, loving every minute of meeting people and sharing our products. But then COVID hit, and the shows came to a halt. People started reaching out, asking, “Do you have a website?” Well, now we do!
Thanks to the help of our amazing daughter, we’ve launched this site with a few products to start. We’ll keep adding more as we go, and we’re always here for custom orders. If you don’t see what you’re looking for, just reach out—if we don’t have it, we’ll hunt it down for you!
Meet Gammill, Our Longarm
Did I mention HT convinced me to buy a longarm quilting machine? (Shocker, right?) After a lot of back-and-forth, we finally welcomed our Gammill Statler with a 14-foot table into the family. Let’s just say, we’re a little obsessed with gorgeous fabric now, and possibly might start selling fabric, thread and other sewing needs on the website. Stay tuned for that addition!
Thank You!
Thank you so much for shopping with us and supporting our small, family-owned business. Life in the Northern Neck wouldn’t be what it is today without the incredible support of HT, my family, and customers like you. And HT? He’s one in a million, and I love him to pieces. We can’t wait to keep creating beautiful, personalized items for you all!
Warmly,
Life in the Northern Neck Family
Contact us - info@lifeinthennk.com