On Birthdays and Bartering

Sometimes one must outdo oneself when it comes to planning birthday parties for grandkids. It's not that a party has to be more expensive or bigger and better. It's rather that an interesting touch is required, something different that becomes memorable, legendary even.

I had been racking my brains for weeks while I stitched away on White. Friends would follow along and comment over on MulticoloredSnippets, watching my s-l-o-w stitching progress. When I announced that I was going to slice White, there was an uproar and I could tell that one friend in particular might like this piece--intact, that is.

This got me to thinking...she made something that I really wanted and that I had no intention of learning how to do. So I called her for a little bartering session and she was amenable to my proposal.


I finished White (28"x15"/71cm x 38cm). 









My friend intends to hang it between glass (fine by me, it's a dusty country) with a light behind it. And I know that she will give it a good home.

In return, the double birthday party for GD1 (first granddaughter, now 11 years old) and my daughter was a smashing success--thanks to my friend's creation.

Yup. A topsy-turvy cake that cannot be gotten anyplace in Tunisia. I told her to decorate it however she wanted (with an 11-year-old in mind)--just dazzle me.

And dazzled I was. She hand made all the butterflies and flowers and spent more time on this cake than she had on any other. Everyone at the party was dazzled as well and nobody wanted to cut into the cake. However, the birthday girls finally did the job and we all admired the construction. Of course, it tasted divine.

My friend says she's getting the better deal. I say it was a fair deal because I couldn't have had this super-duper birthday party without that fancy cake--it was the legendary touch.