Time for a little craft

Though I am sure you are finding my holiday snaps incredibly exciting, I thought at their halfway point we would have a little interval, and talk about some crafting I did while I was away. I did try to do the May Cross-Stitch along but failed spectacularly - after that month, it did look basically the same as it did at the beginning (in this post). I took it to the USA and managed to find some time in transit and in the evenings to crack on with it, and so by the end of June it had blossomed into this:

Sorry to brag but I am well proud of myself! My first big cross-stitch, first that needed an embroidery hoop, first in about ten years that had that many colours in it.... But my ambition did not stop there. I assembled the materials...

... and then had a massive PhD-related freak out that involved pulling a couple of very long days, but after returning from one of them my mum had turned it into this:

Done I think using these instructions, I can answer questions if needed but anything too technical will have to wait until I see my mum again. It was done for my Nana's 80th birthday and it was kind of from all of us, so I don't think it's too bad. And the recipient was very happy with the result, hooray!