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Thread: How did you get interested in your hobby?

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    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    How did you get interested in your hobby?

    iris lilies was talking about choosing iris stalks today, and I wanted to ask her, out of curiosity, how she wound up being obsessed with irises--out of all the flora on earth, why irises and lilies? But that would have been a thread hijack, so I'm asking it here...

    And to everyone who spends time with a hobby or any pursuit they love, how did you fall into it? When did you realize that this was something that enriched your life?

    Sometimes we pick up hobbies but they don't stick; other times we almost can't NOT do them once we've gotten "the bug."
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by catherine View Post
    iris lilies was talking about choosing iris stalks today, and I wanted to ask her, out of curiosity, how she wound up being obsessed with irises--out of all the flora on earth, why irises and lilies? But that would have been a thread hijack, so I'm asking it here...

    And to everyone who spends time with a hobby or any pursuit they love, how did you fall into it? When did you realize that this was something that enriched your life?

    Sometimes we pick up hobbies but they don't stick; other times we almost can't NOT do them once we've gotten "the bug."
    This is a great question! I can't wait to read the responses.

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    I live on a farm. In order to make all the work and chores less tedious I call it my hobby. I don’t think I have any ‘hobbies’ aside from tending the farm. How did it come about? I inherited my parents farm.

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    My hobby is stitching and quilting. I love the color, the work, the finished project. Mom taught me to sew while very young. I did not do anything with it until around 40 and life had settled down. Can do as much or as little as I want each day. I don't really like to work around people (retired from a stressful customer service job) and this suits well. I take classes, go on retreats all over the country and get to know new people this way.

    Husband started working on Habitat for Humanity projects after he retired. No construction experience at all. He is now a full time volunteer with several areas of expertise. He has his own group of friends he recruited to help. It helps him socially and physically plus it gets him outside and in the sun during the summer. He works in the warehouse in the winter. I think someone suggested he come and he really liked the people so he stayed.

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    Senior Member CathyA's Avatar
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    I think I got my love of gardening from my grandpap. I saw him working in his big garden a lot. I remember he grew strawberries and let my brother and me sell them. I think it was 15 cents/pint. I started gardening when I was in my early 20's. The university near where I lived had a "married student courts" garden plots. Others could get one too. I didn't have a car and lived cross town. I remember a friend letting me collect her horse manure and driving me to put it in the plot. Then I had to take the bus home with my rake and empty bags of manure. I'm not sure I was appreciated by the other riders that day. haha

    I also have a few small water gardens. My brother did too. When we were young, we lived at a dead-end street and were near a little creek and also a swamp. We played in them. I think that's where we got our interest in that.

    Then I was into cross-stitching for quite a while, just because it made neat images.

    Now I'm into puzzles......because they make neat images too, and are a lot cheaper than the limited reproductions of the artists. I just love quietly sitting with a puzzle and finding all the pieces and putting them in the right places.
    I also love cooking. My mother worked nights when I was little and I would love cooking during the day. Boy would I make a mess. I remember my mom coming into the kitchen after sleeping all day after work and saying "Oh Cathy!!"
    haha.......sorry mom! I still make big messes when I cook.

    And I can't forget riding my electric golf cart through our property......fields and woods. We do it every night after dinner. It's a wonderful time, seeing birds, animals, bees, dragonflies and watching the sunset through the trees. I highly recommend it!

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    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    My Mom could sew, knit, crochet, etc. I tried to learn as a teen but was too inpatient. About 10 years ago a friend of mine learned to knit. Then she taught me. I now have the patience for it. I knit about 100 scarfs/year and give them to homeless people.

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    Senior Member KayLR's Avatar
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    My grandma was my hobby muse. She was of the era where women made undergarments from flour sacks and embellished everything from tea towels and pillowcases to tablecloths with finely tatted and crocheted edging. She could knit sweaters that looked store-bought. Of course she and grandpa had a garden, too, and canned everything they grew plus had crocks of pickles and sauerkraut on the back porch in the fall, too.

    So, in the evenings, I pick up my crochet or my embroidery. I find it meditative and brings forward many comforting memories. It also keeps me from snacking. I find myself thinking of grandma and grandpa often as I work in my garden.
    My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far today, I have finished two bags of M&Ms and a chocolate cake. I feel better already!

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    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Often it is my gut, literally a feeling in the pit of my stomach, that engages me in the hobby.

    I remember the iris that I fell in love with, “Honeymoon
    Suite.” Sure, I had grown irises before that one because that is what you grow when you have a flower garden. I had purchased collections of iris and I got what I got from the sellers, didnt really choose them individually. But this one in a collection was—shazam! It glittered, time stood still when I looked at it. I suppose it is like those people who say “I saw my spouse for the first time across the room and I knew she was for me!”

    With my lily hobby, it started withh seeing someone’s tiny yard jammed full of lilies. Until then I had only 2 or 3 kinds. Then I learned about giant trumpet type lilies, and I gained cerebral appreciation because they are very showy in the garden. But it wasnt The Earth Stood Still love like for I have for iris.

    I like National Garden Club flower shows be ause I have AlWAys liked competitive shows. For a while it was dog shows, before that cat shows, and I long ago watched beauty pageants on tv for the competition aspect. When I saw a “Floor Design” by National Garden Club ladies at the Homebuilder’s show, I thought that was the coolest thng ever, and I said to myself “I want to do that,” took me a few years, but now I am doing that.

    The highlight of my year is Art in Bloom at the St. Louis Art Museum where floral designers interpret works of art. I am not even a competetor (didnt get in this year) but it is almost sacred, my time at Art in Bloom. I would describe it as a time when all of my senses are heightened and I take in information about the designs at lhigh speed. After reviewing 40 designs ask me about one at random, and I will tell yoi about it! Each one stands distinctive in my mind.

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    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    I love anything that comes in multiple colors, so I've dabbled in colored pencils, paint, polymer clay, quilting, beadwork, collage...The key word is "dabbled." Polymer clay is a fascinating medium; I've amassed files of 10,000+ images and counting--it seems every day someone discovers new ways to use it. I also fell into genealogy, as many people do, when all the relatives I could ask about family had already died off.

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    I think my love for plants and gardening started in high school back in the hippie days. My very first plant ever was a Baby's Tears. I built wooden shelves spanning the windows of my bedroom in our two story house and loaded them up with plants. I also had grandparents who farmed and grew food out of necessity so summers meant time watching those things grow. I have always felt like plants of all kinds are kindred spirits so I like to help them along. Learning about all the new ones to me here in Colorado has been fun. Nothing quite like sitting underneath a towering blue spruce that hasn't been sheared at the bottom.

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