Monstera Leaf | Cross Stitch Pattern

Disclosure: this post may contain affiliate links, which means I may make a commission if you decide to make a purchase through one of my links, at no cost to you.

Starting this month, I’m sharing one new free cross stitch pattern at the start of each month! Check out the start of my plant series: this gorgeous Monstera (aka “Swiss cheese plant”) leaf pattern.

Happy November, friends! This month already feels like a busier one than I anticipated.

And, even though it’s technically an extra DIY project, I’m glad I found my way back to cross stitch. I find it very soothing, and the fact that I can start and finish them sitting at night in front of the TV, zoning out, is really great. I can even have a glass of wine and not risk cutting off a finger.

Ever since I realized how easy it is to start creating my own cross stitch patterns, I’ve been itching to start doing them more regularly. Then, couple of weeks ago, I got in a serious wave of inspiration.

I thought I would start by creating a goal of one new, free pattern for you guys once per quarter. That’s only four per year. Totally doable, right? So, I sat down, intending on creating one for Christmas, which would fall right in line with that goal.

And then, I got stumped. Maybe it was that I didn’t want to go with anything too cutesy? There are so many cross stitch patterns already out there, and I wanted to do something that didn’t smack of those “traditional cross stitch” ideas. So, I started brainstorming, and fell deep into my first idea: a houseplant series. Easy and colorful, but cool enough that you could hang one, or even several, on a gallery wall, without a second thought.

Monstera Leaf Cross Stitch | Free Pattern

I had already created a succulent-inspired piece (but hadn’t yet posted about it) a few months ago, and I’ve been thinking about adding the super-trendy Monstera (“Swiss Cheese”plant) to the house. So, it was the perfect option to start with. I still intend on getting a real plant version, but in cross stitch form, it can’t die. ?

And then, it was your typical creativity-begets-creativity effect: I created another pattern (but not a plant, go figure). And another. And another. Some were photo-inspired, some were text-based, and I kept going. Enough to create NINE new patterns!

So, my once-per-quarter idea immediately went out the window for 2019. I now have these scheduled to go out once per month, starting today! I did eventually figure out my Christmas one, and that’s going to go live on December 1st. I just finished it yesterday and am trying to figure out a way to take a timelapse of me actually completing one sometime (I think watching it actually come together would be fun, but that would mean figuring out a camera setup and sticking to it… an item for another day).

This means, if you check back in on the 1st each month, you’ll find a new pattern added to the Cross Stitch Patterns Library and available for FREE to subscribers.

This was the first pattern I’ve ever designed for a darker fabric, too. On a lighter fabric, the colors would likely appear far more muted, but still really cool. But on black Aida, I LOVE that it stands out so much! And of course, I’m using my brand new DIY needle minder (and still haven’t lost the same needle, which is a first).

Obviously, many of these photos will be Photoshopped unless I actually complete them myself. I want to make sure most of these are good-enough patterns, that the colors show up well, etc., so I’m trying to do the first few until I get my pattern-making instincts figured out. I also took a little time this week to create images that I can use as templates to Photoshop patterns onto (for those that don’t know, an image that’s laid flat like this is called a “flatlay” — they can be super challenging to do well!). Then, they’ll be more digitally created rather than me actually stitching every single new pattern (I like cross stitch a lot, but it doesn’t need to be every piece of art in my home, ha).

I genuinely hope you enjoy these! If you make one of my patterns, please tag me on Instagram so I can see them being created. Happy stitching, and don’t forget to pin this post for later!

What other patterns have you always wanted to do but haven’t seen before? Maybe I can work a few in for 2019.