THE CITY QUILTER
133 W. 25th St.
212-807-0390; cityquilter.com

Quilting may not yet be the new knitting, but it appears to be headed that way. The City Quilter’s eight-week Basic Patchwork and Quilting by Hand courses are already packed, and with good reason: Students come in not knowing how to sew and leave with a block of stitched-together fabric or even an entire quilt-top. Each week in the store’s back room, a motley crew of actors, doctors, lawyers, and stay-at-home moms looking for a way to relax or kill downtime gather to sew and chat. They come away with yet another tool for managing the inexplicable delays of a New York day, at restaurants, in the subway, or on airplanes.