Craft:

Some folks at Haptic Lab are making these luxuriously customized map quilts:

Soft-Maps are handmade quilted maps of Brooklyn neighborhoods and parks that represent your unique place in the city. These heirlooms are meant to be used: wrap your children in them, have a picnic, pull them close during the next Nor'easter. Not only beautiful, these blankets can be used as a mnemonic tool. As your child grows up with a Soft Map, they learn to read their neighborhood and its landmarks in a tactile, easily remembered way.

Each map is embellished with hand-embroidered street names, compass rose, and scale marker. Upon request, the Lab will detail the house or apartment you live in, your metro stops, your favorite coffee shop, the school your child goes to, or any other place in your neighborhood that has sentimental significance to you. It is important that each quilt be unique to its owner, just as a neighborhood is unique to each of its denizens.

While my pockets aren't nearly deep enough to purchase one of these creations, the project sparks dozens of creative ideas! (Thanks, Randy!)