Bosnek in the Heat

Last autumn we visited Bosnek and found it to be one of the most beautiful places on Vitosha and the route to the Live Water spring - one of the most easy and pleasant paths in the mountain. And while in the autumn it was beautiful with the gold and fiery woods around, today it looked like a garden with its meadows covered with all kinds of wild flowers. Such a lovely place for a refreshing mountain hike, pity it's a bit far from home - at least an hour's drive.

The spring of Live Water, pouring plenty of water in the summer. It's cold and tasty:

The cave of Live Water. We could not find it last time - turned out we passed only 5 m away from it !! However none of us dared to enter into the dark hole :)) The cave is about 7 km long but there's no lighting or other facilities so entering is quite risky and impossible without a flashlight: 

The woods around the mineral spring were lush green this time:

The path runs along the Dobri Dol river, one of Struma's tributaries:

Jeans Tablet Case

I'm on a roll :)
After the velvet tablet case for my son I made a smaller jeans tablet case for my husband. This time I took notice of the things I didn't like in my first try and made some changes. The size is exactly fitting the size of the tablet, so there's no wobbling inside. The cardboard insertion was a mistake, so I replaced the cardboard with another layer of wadding, but I cut the second layer without seam allowance and stuck it to the jeans sides with double sided fusible tape. I also reinforced the knitted inner side with fusible.

The textiles and zipper I used are again all recycled for the exception of the additional materials such as the fusible, the wadding and the bias tape. I harvested the denim from a pair of Gaby's old jeans (the same I used for my project bag and I still have one more leg to use :))) The black knit and the zipper are from an old top of mine. Hubby asked specifically for the flower inside, as a hidden joke :)

I'm getting better and better with the bias tape! This time I didn't even need basting.

The case from the inside. The seam allowances, covered with the bias tape, create a protective layer from the zipper - something hubby was particularly concerned about.

The small pocket, also harvested from the pair of jeans, is useful for any small gadgets he might want to keep with his tablet - memory cards and the like.

I'm really fond of this case. It's so cozy and soft, even a bit, uh ... huggable:)

Tablet Case

Photo Tutorial

I made a case for my son's tablet. Here's a photo heavy tutorial I made during the process.
First, I took the measures of the tablet. I added 1.7 cm to the actual size all around for ease and then 5 mm for seam allowance. The ease was a mistake. Make the case without any ease, the wonking and wobbling of the tablet in the case is actually undesirable.

First outlined one quarter of the tablet, folded the  sheet in four and cut to the shape, to make it symmetrical.

All of my materials are recycled. The only new materials I bought were the zipper and the bias tape.
For the inner lining I used this top. It fitted me badly and a few years ago I tried to modify it unsuccessfully. However the color - burnt orange, is my most favourite and I just couldn't throw it away. The fabric is very fine soft knit.

Cut two pieces of inner lining and wadding:

 I basted the lining and the wadding together and sewed them in waffles:

The outer fabric was also recycled from an ages old coat of my mother. She cut it shorter and gave me the cut piece to make it into a skirt or something. The fabric is cotton velvet, blackest black, which my camera finds impossible to shoot. For visibility I made the photos overexposed, therefore it seems blue (or brown):

Cut two pieces of front fabric and zigzagged the edges:

Cut two straps of the front fabric, as wide as the zipper and as long as the long side of the case:

Sewd the straps to the closed side of the zipper. For neatness I removed the metallic and plastic parts, closing the zipper at the ends. Because the zipper tape is man-made fabric, careful processing with a lighter helps to keep things neat:

For firmness I cut two insertions from an old file. Next time I won't use cardboard, but one more layer of wadding and fusible:

I zigzaged the inner and outer parts together and inserted the cardboard:

The two sides are ready:

Then I basted the zipper to measure exactly how long I needed it to be to make the back symmetrical. I cut the excess and melted the edges with a lighter:

Then sewed the other end of the velvet stripes to the open end of the zipper, thus closing the circle:

Basted the entire zipper and back to one of the sides of the case:

And carefully sewed it on the machine:

Then opened the bias tape and basted one of the edges to the edge of the side and sewed them:

Folded the bias tape and basted it:

One half is ready:

And then did the same with the other half:

Voila! The case is ready:

Not the best sewing performance, I'm afraid. Next time I'll do better :)))

And I'll try harder to find a double zipper. I tried, but there weren't any available in the required length in the local passemanterie shops: