Today’s guest post is written by St. Martin’s Press Assistant Editor, Caitlin Dareff.

In honor of Valentine’s Day and all those star-crossed lovers and friends out there, here’s a little story about showing love through cross stitch.

This one goes out to you, Linnie…

My best friend and soul sister, Linnie, recently moved to Oakland, putting thousands of miles between us, as well as temporarily between her and her three beloved cats and husband, who would be following her out there later in the year. I knew she was missing home and her cat-children, and that she and Mike would eventually have a California residence that needed to be decorated. So I decided that the only thing to do, as is often the case, is cross stitch.

Inspired by a Facebook post Linnie had shared weeks before her move (we Facebook stalk the ones we love, right?), I decided to stitch for her a cat-tastic take on the Wu Tang Clan song, “C.R.E.A.M” (“Cash Rules Everything Around Me”). Because, after all, nothing says “I love you” like crafts, cats, and classic rap. Upon further research, I discovered that I would not be the first person to cross stitch this ode to Wu Tang and cats, but I went with my own take on it.

I chose a combination of all caps block lettering and all caps cursive to provide a balance of hard and soft. As I always do when starting a new project, I mapped it out on graph paper beforehand to determine spacing. I waited until I had finished stitching the lettering to decide what kind of cat pattern would best complement it. In my experience, when cross stitching a simple cat pattern, orange tabby and black come out best, so for this project I went with the tabbies for a pop of color.

One week later and I was ready to send Linnie her first housewarming present for her first west coast home, stitched with love.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

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