Crossley Mosaics

Today my son Lawrence and I went to our local car boot ,it was quite late in the morning as far as booting is concerned so was not hoping for much.
Lawrence found some rare records he could use for " mixing " as he is a D.J. and I found a charming embroidered picture ...more about that later...
on one of the last stalls in amongst some pictures was what appeared to be a velvet printed picture the couple on the stall said Oh yes that's quite old oh yes it was in an old fire screen, something was ringing in the back of my mind so I paid my 50 pence and came on home.
Later in the day I was searching my memory for something I remembered buying about 15 years ago it was under glass not the most interesting subject,but on the back was a brief explanation of these rare and quite amazing " Crossley Mosaics " so I started searching the Internet and kept getting carpets of course, I tried Carpet pictures as Crossley was stuck in my mind and Bingo it all came up in Calderdale Museum archives with a document describing the whole process of these mid 19th. century pictures.

Lizzie and Linda Franglaise in Brittany

We have had another really super trip to Brittany. It is becoming  our regular fix.

We left Dorchester on a lovely sunny evening arriving at Portsmouth in good time for our boarding on an overnight to St Malo.

It is so amusing people watching in the line , it was to be a full ship this time but we had our cabin booked and the prospect of a good dinner and a nice glass of wine while sailing out of the harbour past the Naval fleet and the Historic Dockyards. We were in luck the sea was calm. We spent a pleasant evening over dinner and then enjoying the shops which have some really good decorative items  reasonably priced.

We sailed into St malo over breakfast, yes I know food is a priority on these trips!! It is a spectacular place to arrive at by sea , have a look at my slide show, if you click on it you can view it full size.

We made a quick exit this morning as security was light , we were struck by the gorgeous flowers on every roundabout and along the roads, all in pastel shades and not at all formal.

We left St Malo and headed round the bay towards Avaranche to meet our friend Ticky in St Hilaire for Lunch , we were on a slightly different route so soon spotted the magic sign Brocante where we found our first purchases after sitting outside a tin shack waiting for opening time. The owner arrived and recognised us as Trade ! he was very generous so we will be going back there.

We visited a few more places some we knew and others were fresh ground ..exciting .It is a lottery on whether they are open or not it ,is random place to place ,some close Wed. some close Thursd. some only operate afternoons and some only weekends and two to three hour lunch breaks makes you plan very carefully so you have lunch and are on the road to the next place in time for afternoon opening. I have a whole diary on all the permutations now ,however Saints days are another hazard when you only have a day!

We had great fun following tick round all sorts of back roads through stunning countryside until it was time for us to head back to Hotel Ibis for the night. we checked in just to reassure we had a room then went off to play in the supermarket.

Supper and a pitcher of wine while we re played the day and thought of all the new goodies in the back of Freidatoo.

We always spend a fortune on magazines for inspiration and ideas The colours of France are so subtle.

Several pairs of sheets suitable for making fab curtains. we were really pleased to find.

More monogrammed napkins , a set of 12 hooray

Lovely red and white tea towels Thank you Ticky for your input 

strings and things

buttons

Stripes

Various vintage apparel bits

Antique Indigo smock rare

See you at Honiton or Poundbury our next Fairs.