Gram's 91st Birthday Present

After taking a dramamine, I finished stitching my Gram's birthday present the night before her birthday, in a car, by a pen light, that was tied to the visor... Yes, that's right.  I'll own my dorkiness.

I had such a hard time trying to figure out what to make Gram for her birthday.  What does a 91 year old need, and what haven't I done before?!  I'm often fixated on the functionality of a gift, so I thought, "why not make something pretty just for pretty's sake?"  So I did a google image search for "free mandala coloring pages," printed one out, traced the design onto my muslin, and started "coloring" with stitches!

When I started I wasn't sure how I was going to display the finished piece.  I finally decided on a shadow box, and found one at A.C. Moore.  I think it's nice to be able to open up the front for a closer look at the stitches.

All I had to do was staple the embroidery around the slightly stuffed backing board the shadow box came with.  I think it works well, especially because of the color of the wood.

The only thing I wish I had done differently was not use green in the center around the blue and yellow.  I thought the blue and green kind of blended in together... but regardless, I really liked how it turned out, and Gram liked it, which is all that matters!

Is it weird that I kept seeing this design as a crocheted block?