Baby Highland Cow in Autumn Leaves Cross Stitch Pattern

About this Highland cow cross stitch pattern

The calf sits with its front hooves pressed together under its chin and a ginger fringe falling over its eyes, inside a loose ring of oak branches, acorns and chanterelles. The leaves spread outward instead of filling the background, so about half the fabric stays bare and the calf stands out clearly.

Everything is in warm tans and coffee browns with no bright accents, which makes it an easy fit for farmhouse decor and the autumn months. The calf itself isn’t tied to a holiday, so it can stay up after Thanksgiving. For a second Highland cow in the same palette, see Child Hugging a Highland Cow; our fall animal round-up has more autumn designs.

What you need

• Fabric: 14-count Aida in white, cut to at least 21“ x 21“ (3“ around the design for hooping and framing).
• Thread: 18 DMC colors, about 23 skeins in total, stitched with two strands. The main colors are 437 Tan – Light (4,731 stitches), 938 Coffee Brown – Ultra Dark (2,837), 801 Coffee Brown – Dark (2,743) and 435 Brown – Very Light (2,699).
• Needle: a size 24 tapestry needle.
• Stitches: full cross stitches only, with no backstitch.

Difficulty and stitching time

It’s rated Advanced, but not because of technique: every stitch is a full cross. What makes it demanding is the length and the fur. The shaggy coat alternates five close browns in runs of one or two stitches, which is exactly where a misread symbol shows.

At 21,022 stitches, expect roughly 210 to 350 hours at a steady 60 to 100 stitches an hour. Our guide to planning a large cross stitch project is worth reading before you buy fabric and thread.

Tips for stitching this pattern

• Keep 437 and 435 apart. Tan – Light and Brown – Very Light are easy to swap under a lamp at night, and the fringe is built from exactly that pair. Give them separate, labeled spots on your floss card.
• Buy the main tan from one dye lot. 437 Tan – Light covers most of the coat and takes 3 skeins on its own; skeins from different lots can differ slightly in shade, and on a coat this size you’d see it.
• Leave the face for last. The 178 stitches of 402 Mahogany – Very Light are the rosy cheeks, the 61 stitches of 754 Peach – Light sit around the muzzle, and the 26 stitches of BLANC White are the highlights in the eyes. Stitched last, the white stays clean.

Size, fabric and framing

On 14-count Aida the finished design measures 14.6“ x 14.4“ (37.1 x 36.6 cm). On 16-count it comes out at 12.8“ x 12.6“, and on 18-count at 11.4“ x 11.2“. For the 14-count version, an 18“ x 24“ frame leaves room for a mat.

A natural wood frame suits the warm browns, and a cream mat keeps the bare fabric around the leaves from looking stark.

What’s in the free PDF

• A cover page and a one-page overview with a preview of the design
• The chart, split across as many printable pages as you choose, in color or black and white, with a symbol for every DMC color, center lines, a mini-map showing which part of the design each page covers and a color key on every page
• The thread list: DMC number, color name, number of stitches and skeins to buy for each color
• The finished size on 11-, 14-, 16-, 18- and 28-count Aida