When my niece showed an interest in cross stitch, I joined the DMC Mentor program. I wasn’t really sure if it would be worth it or not, but they sent me a nice little package that contained free mentor supplies: Some beginner charts, 4 identical beginner kits, some business-type cards that say “DMC Mentor,” and a pin.
When the package arrived I opened it to see what was in it, but the next time that my niece wanted to cross stitch, I made a big to-do about the fact that the patterns and kits were for her. As you can imagine, the fact that she had her own cross stitch stuff got her really excited about cross stitching.
When we stitched the dragonfly together, she did a few stitches but I finished the pattern. However, when I got the DMC Mentor things I decided that no matter how long it took, she was going to stitch the beginner kit.
We have really only sat down and had two sessions and put literally 27 stitches into her flower kit, but she has done every stitch. I still help her thread the needle and change the floss, but the actual stitching is all her work. Yesterday I barely had to help her put the needle in the right hole.
I am impressed at how quickly she is picking up the technique. (Even her back is neat!) In fact, I am proud to say that, in my opinion, she is figuring out the concepts better than the girls that were at the workshop I gave a month ago… And they were 2 or 3 years older.