A productive couple of days

So I didn't get called in for any relief teaching work yesterday or today but did I let that get me down? No! Did I spend my time worrying about how I will pay the bills? N... ok maybe a bit. But did I choose to see this freed up time as an opportunity? Yes! Apart from looking for jobs, which is pretty much a daily occurrence in my life at the moment, I've spent the past couple of days being quite productive, sorting things out and getting to some of those 'I'll do that when I've got some spare time' jobs. It is so satisfying!

My mum recently gave me her old sewing machine and I am so excited and touched by this. She has had this machine my whole life, and it is the one she taught me to sew on when I was a child. I'm a very sentimental person so this sewing machine is something that is very special to me. I am so so excited to have it as my very own, and my mind is buzzing with all the projects I could make.

I have had this idea in my head for a while now, to make a different tablecloth for each Pagan festival. Then I could put the tablecloths on for dinner that night to really make it feel like a special celebration, and a reminder of the moment of the year that we are in. So yesterday I decided to christen my new sewing machine by making the first of my tablecloths. I made this one for Mabon, which is the upcoming festival celebrating the Autumn Equinox.

It was actually quite difficult to find fabric that really suited the Adelaide Autumn feel that I was going for. I wanted something which was Autumn coloured, but not dark or reminiscent of cold weather and snugliness, as Mabon falls in March in the Southern hemisphere and in Adelaide it is still very hot in March. After about an hour spent looking at every roll of fabric in Spotlight (not that I'm complaining, it was heaven!) I managed to find one that I think suits the feel. I'm still not quite sure though. But anyway, it was the best I could do! Hopefully I can save my pennies and make another one for Samhain in May, the festival celebrating the halfway point between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice. It's the origin of Halloween and one of my favourite festivals (because there is a feeling of cold weather and snugliness!).

My project today was to make my life a little more organised and stress-free. I don't know about you, but clutter and disorganisation make me feel stressed, and an organised environment where everything has a properly allocated (and labelled) place makes me feel peaceful and relaxed. Being a teacher, I have a lot of teaching resources and organising and storing these is a nightmare, particularly when you don't have a permanent job so you have to store them all at your house! I have one particular shelf in one of my wardrobes, where I had a whole heap of really great resources, but they were just all shoved in there so they were not accessible or usable. This was the shelf when I started:

This was the shelf when I finished:

It's still not quite done to the standard I would like, I still need to buy a couple of things next time I go shopping and borrow my mum's label maker, but looking at that shelf now makes me feel happy and satisfied, rather than panicked! Also, look at all the extra space for new resources! Yay!

Happy living! :)