Stage I
The core of this concept is the incongruity of such a dainty expression coming from the mouth of Genghis Khan, not to mention the irony of what "visiting" and "meeting" might mean. We kept seeing a sweet little ol' grandma making a cross stitch design of this charming quote, all the while having no idea who Genghis Khan was. So we started with a textured background, added a frame, and began messing with type.

Stage II
We wanted a warm, 1940s feel for the image, so we chose worn browns, reds, and greens. In keeping with traditional cross stitch designs, we centered the type and added symmetrical icons. Sweet little ol' Granny is catching on.

Final
The finishing touches: changes in color to add more visual interest, special effects to help the icons integrate with the background, extra cross stitches to fill in the "empty" spaces (which traditional cross stitchers seem to have an abhorrence of), and, our favorite bit: adding some smoke coming off the hut in the top right as Genghis and his pals torch a village. Granny has certainly picked up a twisted sense of humor somewhere.