What are the kinds of pieces your mother-in-law has embroidered ?
She's made different pieces. Then she's done frames, bedsheets, which of course she's given away to her other children. Amazing stuff! All her kids love her embroidery, especially now that she's 90 years old and she's doing something like this.
What do these pieces mean to you?
I just get emotional seeing them. I feel like they are a part of my mother-in-law's and her mother’s legacy. Also these little things show the time and the patience and the love they had for the home. They just didn't buy some plastic cover or some random thing. No, it is done with perfection and patience and love. And that's what it means at the end of the day.
How do you take care of these pieces?
I usually keep them in the cupboard. If I use them, I make sure certain things are hand washed and put back, they have to be properly sundried, cupboards are cleaned every two years or so, I dust up everything. I am highly allergic to dust but I still do it. Because these things shouldn't go but, I know this was going to fray eventually.
What do you think is the future of this collection?
The thing is that I intend on educating my children about this. Right now they're young boys. I'm waiting for my kids to grow up a little more. As young boys and young men they won't see any value in it now. When I was their age, I did not think of it that way either. So once they grow a little older I'll tell them - you know, this means so much, this is done that way and then whoever stays with the home will decide whether they will carry it on, or not.
(Right: An embroiderd frame by Maria’s sister, Anita Sequeira.)