I madly want some Alexander Henry Countdown (left: image from nerf). The possibility of getting a fat quarter came up if, I could find some Alexander Henry Road Trip in blue for the Countdown owner. (right: image from Cia's Palette) I own neither of these fabrics and suddenly I wanted both.
I had about a dozen browsers open while trying to procure enough for a swap. I was flipping back and forth, when I suddenly saw it. These two fabric swatches were screaming at me. Milles Bourne! Milles Bornes!
What's Mille Bornes, you ask? It's a French automobile themed card game from the 1950s and 60s. I don't remember ever playing it or owning it, though I think my cousins Tracy and Chris had it. I don't remember the rules or point of the game, but I do remember the art. Retro, Quirky, French. No two fabrics could sum up that game better than the out-of-print Countdown and Roadtrip. The font, colours, typography and shapes took my head straight to the 1960's card set. Yum.
A little more searching led me to Codex XCIX and the evolution of Mille Bornes design. (If you're a design-nut, I'll warn you that you could get lost on that site for hours.) Along with other design sets, they talk about the history of Mille Bornes. When you're there, look for these pictures and click through. You'll see even more card artwork.
And so I'm currently fixated on Mille Bornes. I've already ordered some cards from Etsy, but not a full game. I'm sure that will come soon enough. I'm wanting to get at least a few cards from each of the early editions shown above and frame them for the bedroom. I have no idea what the mister will think about this, but it doesn't matter. I'm Mille Bornes obsessed.
I've been so taken by the idea of Mille Bornes, that I've even chose Game On! as this week's fabric stack theme.
We had that game growing up! It's actually a lot of fun to play. I have no idea where my parents got it but it lived under our UNO game and we always bugged them to let us play it & my mom finally taught us how.
ReplyDeleteTo get back to the topic...that fabric is GORGE! I'm guessing it's OOP and hard to find?
My daughter has a fixation on Smiggle at the moment. I hope she recovers soon.
ReplyDeleteGah! Mille Bournes!! My mom is from France so I completely grew up playing this game A TON. Not only are you completely right about how wonderful the design is, it's ALSO a super fun game to play!
ReplyDeleteI remember playing the game, but not really sure in what capacity. It was a newer version.
ReplyDeleteIf you are still interested in the fabric, I have some Road Trip.
What a riot! We had the Milles Bornes game when we were kids and my sister and I played it for hours. Most of our friends also had the game, so we played it all the time. Didn't have a clue about it being a European game as we used to buy it where we bought all our games. We all spoke French to some extent, so it wouldn't have registered with us. We played Uno and Racko as well, but Mille Bornes was our fav.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as I saw the cards, I knew exactly what it was. I have to make something with this fabric for my sister. She'll never believe it!
Thanks for the post. It made my day. Cheers!
Kathleen
1. I wish I had my grandmother's Mille Bourne - we never played by the rules... :o)
ReplyDelete2. I love all of that fabric. I not want/need some too. I love it when that happens.
I grew up in Canada and lived in Montreal....we played this game all the time and loved it! Thanks for the memories :).
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh. You brought this game back from the recesses of my memory! As a kid we spent Feb vacations in northern Maine skiing, the house we rented had this game & we would play constantly. I am totally putting this on my Christmas list!!
ReplyDeleteJacly