As promised here is a picture of the completed mosaic mat.
The completed mosaic mat
Obviously you can tell from the image that snow has arrived at Clasheen but the unfortunate news is that my water has once more stopped running. Luckily my heat is OK because the outside temperature has never risen above -2 degrees today, unheard of weather conditions for Ireland although everything looks like a beautiful winter wonderland at the moment!! It struck me when taking this picture that the mosaic method would work very well if you cut out your shapes as if you were going to sew a traditional patchwork quilt. This may be some research that I will take up at some stage but for the moment it was a really simple way to use some of my left over prefelt. Following on from this project I decided to experiment with more prefelt, pieces of my first long loved (but finally wrecked!) cobweb scarf and various bits and bobs of embellishing fibres that I have had in my stash. Due to my lack of water I also wanted to work some more with Icelandic wool (as it needs loads of soap but not too much water) and melted some snow on the range to keep me going for the moment.
Silk and mohair/romney highlights
Here is an image to whet your appetite and you can check out my Flickr photos for some more teasers of this landscape. For anyone wanting to experiment with Icelandic wool I am offering the batts that I work with for sale through my Etsy store, please just mail me if you don’t see the colour that you are looking for!
Nicola Brown Fine Art Textiles 
Good morning Nicola,
I just heard on the evening news last night that Ireland was having such a harsh winter. We’ve already used up our allotment of snow days for the school year here, but that’s not unheard of in Michigan. It’s bitter cold here, too, with lots of school closings again this morning because of the snow and icy roads. I’m so sorry to hear that you’re without water, but you are so clever. I don’t know that I would have thought to heat up the snow to provide water for feltmaking.
Already posted on your Flickr photo…But just to let you know here, too, that I love your new piece using the recycled felt scarf.
Lastly, I wanted to let you know that I got a sander for Christmas…Yippeee! I know some women like jewelry, me, I wanted a sander for feltmaking:-) Anyway, I tried it out yesterday on what was to be a nuno shrug for me. Wow! Does that speed up the process. My shrug may fit my dog…If I put him on a diet (not his colors anyway!) The sander worked like a charm, but I was having so much fun touching it on a spot here and there that needed a little more attention, that I went overboard and voila’, a miniature. It was a good learning experience and I’ll know next time to pay more attention.
Hope your water situation is fixed soon.
Hugs,
Dawn
Hi Nicole,
Love your website and I can’t wait to try latex to my slippers. Hope your heat has come on by now. It is pretty cold here in New England. Barbara
Nicola, your prefelt piece looks really cool! Love the colours and pattern. It does look like a quilt.
The snow looks great. Try and leave the tap with a trickle when it comes back on. It may help it from freezing up. Keep warm.
Holly
I love your blog, and your Flickr site – so inspiring! It would be great to see more advice in the tutorial section.