Happy National Sewing Month and...a Winner!

I just found out that September is National Sewing Month and this is 2 bunches of fat quarters from Purl Soho, a birthday gift from my boyfriend "for encouragement and inspiration" as he says, very sweet, as he's also contributed to my crafty endeavors before.  There is a fantastic selection of projects you can make from fat quarters on Sew, Mama, Sew! and I'm definitely picking one soon.

Walking down by South Street Seaport this weekend we passed a fence adorned with sewing spools that stretched for blocks and blocks...until we came to a description:

noting that it's a temporary installation by Katherine Daniels: check out her site, amazing work with fabric, beads, wire and more.  I'm so glad I passed by this!  We also saw some cool graffiti in the East Village.

And I started a new project on the way up to Northampton, Massachusetts for a little trip.

We saw a Crafts Avenue:

and while there weren't craft shops on that block, there were 2 yarn boutiques in town:

and we had such a nice time browsing through the fantastic gifts, cards, books, Japanese and Korean design products and great craft section at Essentials where we had the pleasure of meeting owner Sydne and manager Colette: so lovely to chat with both of you! 

For dinner we had a sushi Love Boat for 2...

which brings me to the winner of the Knit Sushi Giveaway:

Thank you to everyone who entered...the futomaki prize goes to entry #4: Small Burst! 

So, I will be sending this along to Small Burst just in time before NYC Fashion Week, which will mean lots of work for me, culminating in the 2nd year of Fashion's Night Out on Friday, September 10th:

And next week on Tuesday, September 14th, CBS will air a special behind-the-scenes look at the planning and the parties, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris (who I'm watching sing about suits right now on How I Met Your Mother).