Ornament Birds on a Pine Bough Cross Stitch Pattern

About this Christmas birds cross stitch pattern

Two round birds perch side by side on a long pine branch, each shaped like a Christmas bauble with a silver cap on top. The blue bird on the left is covered in pale snowflakes; the red bird on the right wears a band of white scrolls like a knitted sweater. Both have big eyes, small gray beaks and pink cheeks, with holly and berries tucked behind their caps.

It’s a bright Christmas design for a living room or a hallway, and the two birds make it a nice gift for a couple. Pair it with the Chickadee in a Glass Ornament, or see more in our bird cross stitch patterns round-up.

What you need

• Fabric: 14-count Aida in white, cut to at least 19“ x 17“ (3“ around the design for hooping and framing).
• Thread: 16 DMC colors, about 16 skeins in total, stitched with two strands. The main colors are 904 Parrot Green – Very Dark (1,823 stitches), 3830 Terra Cotta (1,677), 813 Blue – Light (1,294) and 730 Olive Green – Very Dark (1,246).
• Needle: a size 24 tapestry needle.
• Stitches: full cross stitches only, with no backstitch.

Difficulty and stitching time

It’s rated Intermediate. The birds are simple shapes, but their snowflake and scroll patterns are made of many single stitches, and the pine needles are thin lines one stitch wide. At 12,619 stitches it takes roughly 126 to 210 hours at a steady 60 to 100 stitches an hour. More than half of the fabric stays bare.

Tips for stitching this pattern

• Work the scrolls as you fill the red bird. The white scrolls are B5200 Snow White (740 stitches) set into 3830 Terra Cotta and 3777 Terra Cotta – Very Dark. Stitching the white in each row as you reach it is easier than leaving gaps to fill later.
• Stitch the pine one needle at a time. The branch’s needles are short lines in 904 Parrot Green – Very Dark, 730 Olive Green – Very Dark, 988 Forest Green – Medium and 890 Pistachio Green – Ultra Dark. Finish each needle before moving on, and don’t carry thread across the bare fabric between them.
• Label the three blues. 312 Baby Blue – Very Dark, 813 Blue – Light and 162 Blue – Ultra Very Light make the blue bird and its snowflakes. Sort them on a floss card from dark to light.

Size, fabric and framing

On 14-count Aida the finished design measures 12.4“ x 11.0“ (31.5 x 27.9 cm). On 16-count it comes out at 10.9“ x 9.6“, and on 18-count at 9.7“ x 8.6“. A 14“ x 18“ frame, hung landscape, leaves room for a mat.

A plain white or natural wood frame keeps the focus on the two bright birds.

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