I love your answer, earthwalker! I feel that I put so much energy, effort and hard work into my on-going classes, reading, creating, etc. that it is much, much more than simply, as you say, collecting teapots (which I also love). Maybe it's about the degree of effort involved...if my hobby is simply go out and buy teapots or quilts, as much I might like them, it's not really MY work or MY creativity. The art of quilting is a LOT of work, and to become good at it takes great dedication. I personally feel that calling it a "hobby" diminishes it a bit.