An interesting question to say the least.
25+ Years ago I quit smoking and took up sewing - as a hobby because I still worked full time. Over the course of time I started selling many of the stuffed animals and fabric items in local craft shows. Then in the past 6 years it's become more quilting than just sewing - a dear friend dragged me to my first quilter's guild meeting where they were doing landscape quilting, met some amazing people, enjoyed show n tell and was hooked. Sewing still relaxs me, allows me to talk to God in my own way and since my hubby retired gives us additional income to enjoy life and traveling more. I sew for 1/2 hr before I go to work, cut up things to be sewn during my lunch hour and sew for at least 2 hours in the evening. Then becasue I only work 4 days out of the week we either go on adventure, do a craft show or stay home doing chores and sewing. It take hand sewing & hand quilting when we travel. Thinking this all out I'd say for me it's not so much a hobby as a wonderful obsession with benefits.

I guess by definition quitting is a hobby. It doesn't pay the bills. But I love it, love creating something that's admired, treasured and used. It's relaxing and you get a sense of accomplishment. I also love to tole paint, even cut the wood, sand and finish. I haven't done it in a long time (starting to get the itch though). I have sold a lot of things at fairs over the years, but making money at it, like a good profit, No way, "hobbies" are rewarding in a lot of other ways!

It's not my job. It's my hobby - something I enjoy doing for me. It allows me to create as I wish, do at my own speed, work on when I want for as long as I want. I don't NEED another blanket but I enjoy making something the colors and styles I want, seeing the quilt I've made, and I like to imagine what I could make.

There's nothing wrong with hobbies as they give people enjoyment. I hope you don't let a title ruin your enjoyment.

Very well said :) :thumbup:

I consider it a hobby. It is for fun, not profit and I don't work at it all the time. I am not imaginative, a perfectionist nor an artist. I would never call it a business as I do not sell anything. What would you call it?

Quilting is so much more than a hobby. It's a calling, a "vocation" if you will that lives deep down in your heart.
Jenny

I consider quilting to be my theraputic obsessive passion, that I do to feed my artistic addiction.

I do not craft!!!!

Ditto. I have no obsessions and I don't need therapy. It's a creative outlet, but a hobby nonetheless.

I consider things I do for relaxation, that doesn't put food on the table, a hobby. I'd have to say I have many hobbies....like my quilting, planting flower beds, my husband and I ride a Harley and reading. It does irk me when someone considers quilting crafting. Don't really know why other than I think crafting is using paper, glue, glitter and such.

It is more of an artful expression for me. I have long been jealous of my husband and daughter for their talents in the art world but now have found an outlet for my artful side. (and I believe we all have one) In my opinion a “hobby” is something that you can put down and return to at some later point. For me, my quilting is something I love to live with every day, even if I do not actually sew every day. I am always looking at things with an eye to what they would look like in a quilt, what colors I would add to it, what pattern I could make out of it. Come to think of it, I might have to call it an obsession.