Making A Palm Tree Design To Cross Stitch On Aida Cloth

I always have many projects going at once, but one thing I have been working on from time to time is designing a palm tree image on a piece of aida cloth.  After I finish cross stitching on the image I plan on framing it and hanging this palm tree needle art on the wall.

Some people plan out the designs for crossing stitching with graph paper, and I had considered doing that at first, but I thought it might just be a bit more fun to draw the design directly on the cloth. After I finished drawing the palm tree design on the cloth, it was time to start cross stitching the major lines on the palm tree branches. I am using a dark green shade of thread to do this, and I will be using a lighter shade for the rest of the palm tree branches, and fronds on the tree.

Drawing The Palm Tree Outline On Aida Cloth

Palm Tree Cross Stich Design

Palm Tree Cross Stitch Design

Palm Tree Cross Stitch Outline

Palm Tree Cross Stitch Outline

I used a photograph I took of a palm tree as inspiration for the outline sketch I created on the aida cloth.  I could have graphed out the sketch, but I thought it would be more spontaneous to just directly draw it on the mesh with a pen.  In the past I have drawn the outline for a painting directly on the canvas, so it does not seem that much different to draw directly on the aida cloth.