Do you have a hobby--woodworking, knitting, painting, playing a instrument, yoga, etc.? What do you

[debm55]

with your free time? I like to work with polymer clay. I make faux gemstones--faux abalone, jasper, quartz, malachite, etc. Right now I am using small silkscreens on my polymer clay, It makes me happy to see the results. What hobby do you do One other thing, YouTube is a really good source for learning new hobbies.
Hanging out on DU can count.

[northoftheborder]

1. Art Quilting - small wall hangings

[debm55]

4. north, by hand or machine. I tried free style quilting once. Couldn't do it. Glad you have shared

with us,

[northoftheborder]

56. Do you mean "free motion quilting"?

I haven’t achieved that yet - can only do straight or curves with the walking foot.

[debm55]

57. Yes, couldn't remember the word. Thank you. It was sort of a disaster so I let it be.

[FalloutShelter]

2. Knitting.

Great stress reliever for me… and productive.

[debm55]

5. Fallout, What type of things do you knit?

[FalloutShelter]

7. Hi...

I’ve knit sweaters and complex intarsia patterns, but I prefer it make afghans with memorized patterns, so that I can just zone out and go on memory. That way, I can do it while watching tv and split my attention.

[GP6971]

3. I dabble in model RR.

Started in O gauge and HO. Even tried N scale. Currently run a very modest HO layout.

[debm55]

6. GP, do you have it set up year round? We used to go to the model train show in Pittsburgh. Loved to

watch all the little houses and things on display.

[GP6971]

11. Yes.

I change the layout and scenery about twice a year. It's a no frills 4' x 16' layout...very basic and nothing fancy. I used to run a small Christmas layout under the tree when the grand kids were small, but they're all past that stage now.

[cloudbase]

8. I fly gliders, ride motorcycles, and am a ham radio operator.

I'm also a spoiler of cats, which takes up some of that free time.

[debm55]

12. Wow, you do have alot of hobbies. Do you follow the Pens, too?

[cloudbase]

21. Sort of.

Not as big a fanatic as in years past. More of a connection to my old hometown that I left fifty years ago.

[debm55]

27. Years ago, we waited for years to get season tickets. After waiting for 5 years we got them. They

stuck that year and so we didn't renew them. Wouldn't you know that the next two years they won the Stanley Cup.

[TlalocW]

9. Oh, lots

Sewing. I've tried my hand at and will get back into knitting and crocheting. Teaching myself baking - mainly bread and pies. To that end I urban forage every now and then and have found various fruit trees like mullberries for filling as well as crabapples for jellies/jams. I've taken a wood-working class and would like to finish up my project from the place I attended the class (they had a roof leak and had to cancel a few classes), but they never answer the phone. I have some polymer clay that I want to get into making things that I can then make molds out of to "mass" produce more of. Hopefully that's the right material for that. Let me know if it isn't.

[debm55]

13. Try coating the mold with cornstarch before adding the clay. I use that to natural flowers to make

molds from, There is a silicon substance that Michael's sells. But I have used the scarp pieces to make the molds. Make sure it is cured in the toaster oven. Premo--275 degrees, 30 minutes per quarter inch. You can also try a little bit of water. But I like using the cornstarch.

[Cracklin Charlie]

10. My daughter makes earrings from polymer clay.

I make quilts by hand.
I have 2 great nephews on the way…working on 2 crib quilts right now.

[debm55]

15. We have quilts from my MIL that she made for our son and use. She used to do it by hand.

She wouldn't even use a microwave to cook.

[Cracklin Charlie]

18. This makes me happy.

I want the quilts I made to get used.

[yellowdogintexas]

65. we have a quilt my great great grandmother made and one

that my husband's grandmother worked on with a quilting circle. That one has everyone' names stitched in.

Mine is a double ring pattern

[debm55]

68. Oh yellowdog, those are heirlooms. You are so lucky to have them.

[yellowdogintexas]

74. I know. I am so glad my aunt gave me that quilt when she did

If it had ended up with my mom we would have lost it in her house fire.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. I take photos and write poems, my dear debm55! Not sure those count as hobbies, though.

I've had a lot of fun with both, and doors have opened that I wouldn't have otherwise walked through . . .

[debm55]

17. CaliforniaPeggy, you have two hobbies in one--the walking is great exercise and a good hobby and the

photography is a terrific hobby. Do you frame you art--I consider photography art and a hobby.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

25. I love taking photos! I have a professional frame them for me.

I also share them here, and on Facebook.

Photography is certainly art!

[woodsprite]

16. I do polymer clay/wire wrapped jewelry and needle felting.

Maybe some year I’ll have enough to have a table at a craft show. 😃 I mainly give items as gifts.

My husband and I sing in a choral group (this year is our 40th year as members), and we sing in our church choir. It’s seasonal, but we also build Halloween props (some years bigger than others).

I would have no problem finding things to keep me busy if I retired, would just have an issue funding my hobbies 🤣

[debm55]

19. woodsprite, you do keep yourself busy with your hobbies. I make a list and use coupons from

Michaels and Joanne's to buy what I need. Also, before Christmas, Michaels had a 60% sell, so I stocked up.

[woodsprite]

34. Hubby gifted me with some Cernit Pearl for xmas

Along with some stamps and a couple of silkscreens.

I kind of went off on a marathon over the past month or so making a collection of felted food for my 4yo niece who loves playing restaurant. It’s relaxing to get back to the clay.

[samplegirl]

20. Watercolor

My zen!

[debm55]

22. Samplegirl, do you do a certain theme for your watercolors. I originally had my BS in Art Ed.

Watercolor is something I found difficult to do. I so admire people who have the talent to be able to watercolor.

[samplegirl]

37. I just do easy stuff

Birthday cards ect. Just get my mind off the things seasonal stuff too.

[Beatlelvr]

23. I crochet baby blankets for charity

Read mysteries and fiction, current affairs type books. Travel. Trying new veg recipes.

[debm55]

29. Beatlelvr, How wonderful for you to do that. Your kindness is wonderful. Now tell me , as a mystery

book reader, do you do as I do and read the last chapter first?

[Tree-Hugger]

24. Dance

I am a professional belly dancer. I do teach and perform. I also take classes when I can - I have a barter system with my teacher.

I always wanted to be able to knit, sew, crochet, and embroider. My mom was a whiz at sewing and I never inherited that gene. I've taken lessons and watched a bazillion youtube vids, but I just can't seem to grasp any of these things well enough.

Ballet is a hobby for me. I've always been a dancer. Nowadays, I follow YouTube vids in my kitchen or in "my" studio. YouTube is excellent for learning.

Oh photography and reading, too. My libraries allow 100 books. 100 books. I get....a lot. lol

[debm55]

30. Oh who I always wanted to take a Belly Dance class at the local community college. Always booked up,

Do you make your own costumes? Yes, I love You Tube. also. That's how I learned to crochet.

[old as dirt]

26. Math

What was up with Pythagoras?

Pythagoras had a problem with beans and irrationality. What really happened? I don't know! The square root of two is irrational, and beans are delicious.

How Imaginary Numbers Were Invented

A general solution to the cubic equation was long considered impossible, until we gave up the requirement that math reflect reality.

William Rowan Hamilton (Science YouTuber Collab) | A Capella Science

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rowan_Hamilton

It is believed by some modern mathematicians that Hamilton's work on quaternions was satirized by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in Alice in Wonderland. In particular, the Mad Hatter's tea party was meant to represent the folly of quaternions and the need to revert to Euclidean geometry. In September 2022 evidence was presented to counter this suggestion, which appears to have been based on an incorrect understanding of both quaternions and their history.

Alice's adventures in algebra: Wonderland solved

New Scientist

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427391-600-alices-adventures-in-algebra-wonderland-solved/

Algebra in Wonderland

New York Times (gifted article)

https://nyti.ms/3YJL4Zc

Alice without quaternions: another look at the mad tea-party

British Journal for the History of Mathematics

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26375451.2022.2085446

[debm55]

31. old as dirt, what an interesting hobby. I like the fractuals and numbers system that artists use in

their artwork.

[multigraincracker]

28. Can't wait for the warm weather to get here.

My passion is treasure hunting at yard and garage sales.
Bought a watch for a dollar and sold it for $400. Got an old beat up chalk figure for $3. and sold it for $200.
Other than socks and underwear, I get most of my cloths at sales. Last summer I bought nice jacket for $10. Just dug it out last week and started wearing it. Looked it up and it turned out to be a keeper. Made in England and it is a Sail Cloth-Waxed Cotton coat. New they sell for $250 to $400. I’m keeping it.

[debm55]

32. My close neighbor down the street does that. He is the reason I posted this thread as he told me

today, not to come into the garage as he has Covid. His thing is clocks. He buys wall clocks and tiffany lamps. Like you, he goes to garage sales, estate sales, and a flea market every Saturday in Ohio. He also goes to the Salvation Army for clothes and mission dinnerware. I was surprised at what he pays for it and what he gets back. He is a self taught carpenter, and also does furniture. He is currently working on a roll top desk. I can never find anything worth anything. I don't know how you guys do it. I did find some depression glass, but that was just one time. thank you for sharing.

[Trailrider1951]

33. I paint pretty pictures, using acrylics and watercolors

I paint from photographs. Here is one of my paintings, in progress:



To the left and above the painting, you can see the 3 photos of this landscape I used for the painting. This was my first attempt at painting in acrylics, and I have found that I now prefer this medium. Here is the finished painting that now hangs in my living room:



I took all the art I could in high school, but I was too busy to take any but one class in college. I wish now I had taken more classes, but I can't afford it, so I now study at the University of YouTube.

[debm55]

39. Trailrider, absolutely beautiful. Is it by the canyons? I visited all the National Parks from Denver

south to Mexico. It looks familiar but I can't place it. You did a wonderful job. I like using acrylics too, Though they do dry faster then oils. PS I like your workshop too.

[Trailrider1951]

45. Thank you, I'm glad you like it. It's a place in Canyonlands National Park

called "False Kiva". You can only get there by a long hike, so I painted it from photos because my hiking days are over LOL. Acrylics are the BEST! I've tried oils, but they really stink. I cannot stand the smell. Watercolors are very demanding. An "oops!" is there forever. If you make a mistake with acrylics, just let it dry and paint over it!

[debm55]

47. I agree about the acrylics. Again, beautiful painting.

[LuckyCharms]

35. DIY, woodworking, refinishing, doing people's taxes for them, spreadsheets, music. n/t

[debm55]

40. Wow, Lucky, you have alot of hobbies too. Do you sale your refinished pieces or are they for

personal use?

[LuckyCharms]

43. Just for personal use, Deb

[Emile]

36. Smoking weed and fishing 🐟.

[debm55]

41. Emile, what type of fishing do you do--trout. catfish,etc. Do you eat what you catch or throw it

back?

[Emile]

52. Anymore I just panfish. I use to make trips to

go to Minnesota and Ontario for walleye and pike. Now I just stay home and fish my farm pond.

[Orrex]

38. I render Mega Construx elements for use with open-source LEGO CAD platforms

It’s a fun way to exercise my long-dormant skills of algebra, trig & geometry.

[debm55]

42. Orrex, sounds interesting mixing a hobby with math skills.

[Ptah]

71. Which LEGO CAD platform might you recommend?

LeoCad or LDraw ?

I'm hoping to find a CAD that I can use to model NXT Mindstorm.

[Orrex]

72. LOL. Great question!

I've been using LDraw in its original form since shortly after its creator released, and I started homebrewing elements on LEdit way back in 1999. I still occasionally use classic LDraw, and I actually keep an ancient PC running Windows 98 for this purpose.

MLCad is still fairly popular, but I think LeoCad might have more fans at this point. I believe that the LEGO's official Designer platform sees wide use as well.

I'm kind of an outsider to the online LEGO community, which generally doesn't favor the apocryphal brands. As such, I'm not entirely in tune with current trends in that part of the hobby!

[Auggie]

44. Trying to teach myself guitar

Bought a steel string dreadnought a few years ago. Thinking of moving to a nylon string and try playing finger style.

[debm55]

48. Auggie, it seems to be easier to learn on nylon string and move into the steel string. Best of luck.

[area51]

46. I love to crochet.

I make blankets for the Project Linus charity. They accept homemade blankets that are sewn, crocheted, or knitted.

[debm55]

50. I had a club at school, where I taught crochet to the kids and we donated to Project Linus through

Joann Fabrics. Thank you area51 for sharing your talents for the kids.

[lucca18]

49. I like to paint!❤️

I have fun trying to paint Landscapes, Still Life and Flowers.
I use acrylics instead of oils.
I hang my paintings on the wall of my garage.
They haven’t yet made it to the inside of my house!

[debm55]

51. Get them framed or frame them yourself. I am sure they will look beautiful in your home. Art, is the

from the soul. It is you that is in the painting--let others see them. I agree with the acrylics. I sometimes use oil pastels to put highlights on my paintings. Smug the pastels with a tissue. It gives the painting a little pop. Thank you my friend for posting.

[lucca18]

77. Thank you debm55 for your beautiful words of encouragement.❤️

[Luciferous]

53. Gardening, reading, DIY remodeling, antiquing

[debm55]

58. Luciferous, gardening is up for us too. Will begin planting the seeds in the basement. I like your

DIY remodeling. Any style that you prefer?

[Luciferous]

61. Not really. I've renovated 5 houses.

We moved into our house last summer and we picked it because it's pretty much done. I do want to replace the flooring but we just got a puppy a few weeks ago so I'm glad I hadn't gotten around to it yet 😀

[debm55]

62. Is that your full time job or do you renovate on the side? That seems like it would take alot of

work and energy.

[Luciferous]

63. I used to be a stay at home mom

so it was just something I did while I was home. I originally started doing it because the first house we bought was a foreclosure and needed a lot of work and we couldn't afford to pay people. Then I realized I was pretty good at it so when we moved we bought houses that needed work. It was more of a hobby that turned out to be pretty profitable.

A couple of years ago I went back to work and when we moved we decided to get something that doesn't need as much work. Of course there are still things I want to change lol

[Hermit-The-Prog]

54. Wood and metal

Couple of examples:
From standing tree to wife's plant workbench.
From scrap metal to backhoe.

[debm55]

59. Hermit, that sounds very interesting. Do you have training or was it something you learned along the

way? Your wife's workbench sounds beautiful.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

73. Almost all self-taught -- that's been part of the fun!

Took me about ten years of spare time work to build the backhoe and it's like a log of my progress in welding. (Think of preserving examples of your writing -- content and style -- from 1st through 10th grades).

The plant workbench came about because:
a. I found a small, manual bandsaw sawmill I could afford;
b. There was a red maple tree that needed to come down;
c. She was tired of making do with rickety folding tables;
d. After the lumber dried, I asked her what I should make with it.

Naturally it required getting a surfacer/planer to get the boards smooth and pretty. (Never pass up an excuse to get another power tool).

Still trying to figure out what to do with the rest of that maple.

Sorry about the delayed reply.

[Niagara]

55. I don't have a lot of free time lately.

However, that will be changing soon.


I brake for estate, garage and yard sales.


Reading books, watching movies and YouTube.


There's an online MMORPG game that I've played for years and still play.


Solitaire games using a standard 52 card deck. I always have a deck of cards in the house.


I like to feed and watch the local hummingbirds in the summer. I make my own food using the recipe from
The National Audubon Society.

I'm not much of a gardener, but already mature Ivy Geraniums grow so well for me. Although, I can't seem to keep Petunia's alive.

[debm55]

60. Niagara, you sure do have alot of hobbies. I play solitaire on my tablet. My hummingbirds come at

exactly 5:00 everyday in the summer. I love watching them. Where do you get the time for all the activities you do?

[Niagara]

67. Yes. Once the hummingbirds know the feeder is up,

They're in and out all evening.


I don't currently have the time for all my activities. I spend my weekends playing catch-up.

It's exhausting.

[yellowdogintexas]

64. I crochet,read and bake.

All three are relaxing and fun

[debm55]

66. Thank you, yellowdog, hobbies are like that--they provide us with a means of relaxing, are fun and

give us a sense of accomolishment.

[Tikki]

69. I shop thrift stores and the such for used and unique photo frames...

10" x 12" or smaller (usually smaller) and then I search the internet
for images I want to put in the frames for different rooms in my house.

I have the best images of the icons and all of the music bands I like.
Also, things that interest me.
None of this comes easy. There is a lot of editing and changes made to frames and images to get it all just right.

Mr. Tikki is an amazing help. I would say he is in on about 75% of all the work.
Prob have 60 or so all over my home.
Thing is, these are not for sale or could they ever be for sale.
I technically don't own the images, but I do own the frames.
[img][/img]

Tikki
ps some have fluorescent paint that glows under black light.

[debm55]

70. Tikki, those are beautiful. I love how you use the things that others don't want or need and turn

them into works of art. Your hobby is very unique and awesome. thank you for sharing.

[sakabatou]

75. I play piano

[debm55]

76. Any special type--classical. jazz,etc