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DH says I need a hobby... (vent)
So I get the luxury of not working when I'm pregnant and raising my child but I've been kind of bored at home lately. My DH told me to find a hobby and I've been looking around and trying a bunch of things out but nothing really stuck. Today, I realized a practical possible "hobby".. sewing! Anyways, I looked into it more and brought the idea up to my DH and he doesn't think that I would enjoy it and get as much use out of it for the money we'd put into it (cost of sewing machine, some classes, supplies, etc.) I do see where he's coming from and he doesn't want to spend the extra $400 on a good sewing machine because of all the baby expenses but I'm running out of possible hobbies (esp. somewhat practical ones)!
What do you guys do in your spare time (as a stay at home wife/mom)?
Note: My hobby before DH was Baking but he doesn't eat sweets very often so I eventually gave up on baking except for certain events when it wouldn't go to waste. 
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Re: DH says I need a hobby... (vent)
You could get a decent sewing machine on craigslist much more reasonably and figure a lot out using the user manual. I don't think you should give up on that idea!
You can bake lots of not-sweet stuff: breads, crackers, granola...and there is this great cookbook called Small Batch Baking where all the recipes make just 2-4 (perfect for you!) servings.
I have actually recently found myself with more spare time than I am used to.. I think I am going to take up knitting.
I really enjoy baking and decorating cakes, but my family can only eat so many cakes... =/
Hmm, trying to think of relatively inexpensive hobbies. Is blogging a hobby?? Blogger.com is free!
Gardening? Reading? Crochet/knitting/embroidery?
I love baking. We could certainly devour everything I bake but that'd be dangerous, so a lot of it goes to work with hubby or to my job. Your husband's co-workers would love you for it! I have also heard of programs that allow you to ship baked goods to soldiers overseas.
There are also cooking blog groups online who do a recipe from a certain chef/cookbook author every week (I think there's one for Ina Garten and Dorie Greenspan among others). Those always sounded fun but I didn't think I'd have the commitment to do the chosen recipe every week.
You know what you could do is just make a list of things that you'd like to learn, and just go down the list! They don't have to be anything huge, just simple skills that interest you. Like I've always wanted to learn how to make preserves and do canning. A friend of mine makes gigantic batches of preserves when berries are in season and it looks fun, in an old fashioned I'm gonna pretend I'm on the prairie way.
~
I recently took up sewing again (quilting actually) but I already had a machine, it's just a cheapy Kennmore but it gets the job done. I like to do a fair amount of hand sewing, toys, doll blankets, easy things like that.
If you like baking you might enjoy learning to make bread, it's one of my favorite things. I also send a lot of baked goods to DHs office (they love me).
Other practical hobbies - knitting, gardening, reading
This is a great idea too! When I became a SAHM and had a month of sitting on my but before the baby was born I put together a list of all the things that I wanted to learn/do now that I had time. Of course the baby was born and now I don't have that much time but I'm slowly whittling away at that list.
You can also get fabric cheap if you watch the remnants, or take up "upcycling" clothing from goodwill into new creations. You can get a lot of ideas of cute up-cycled clothes, diaper covers, etc. on Etsy.
Ditto gardening (though plants can get costly quickly). I love to choose recipes at random and cook... a good meal can take a few hours to prepare (and minutes to consume).
I made or repurposed most of the items for our nursery... refinished free dressers, sewed crib skirt, made the lamp, etc... that was a lot of fun. And scouring craigslist for baby deals is a hobby in and of itself.
I'm going to make an AWESOME big brother.
I think sewing is a good one! It's easy to make simple pillows to start and you wouldn't need a class to do that.
Now that it's supposed to be spring soon, what about gardening, growing your own veggies?
Maybe you could do something to help you learn more? I get a subscription to The Economist - it's a weekly magazine and is a pretty intense, difficult read. But it really provides so much more information about international affairs than the general news shows or websites do. Also, if I had the time I would definitely get involved in researching my ancestors. I think geneology is so cool, but I feel like I don't have the time to do it. And it might be fun to get a lot of that info sorted out before your baby comes.
If its your hobby then you should do what you want. So, if learning to sew is what you want, then learn to sew. Joann's offers classes and often has % off coupons for their classes. Find out if they supply the machine or if you need to. I am in full sewing mode right now, but I have several crafty things that I move from on to another.
Things that I do...
Embroider - regular and ribbon embroidery. *(Making it baby related) You can embellsih onsies, blankets, bonnets and shoes. **(Making it home related) You can embellish dish towels, pillow cases, sweaters.
Crochet - I taught myself using youtube and google. * You can make sweaters, blankets, booties, bonnets, toys, clothes. ** You can make sweaters, skirts, scarves, shawls, mittens, gloves, slippers, rugs, blankets, tables clothes (really the possibilities are endless). There may or may not be a site out there called ravelry (ahem) that has all sorts of patterns, included a boat load of free ones.
Sew - Obviously you know what you can do with sewing. For fabric, especially while learning - I love upcycling sheets. You can get them free from freecycle, and craigslist, or find them uber cheap at the goodwill or garage sales.
Paper craft - card making and scrapbooking fall into this. Check around with different companies, a lot of times there are activities that are designed to help you get started/dedicate time to it.
Refinish furniture - I have to keep myself in check with this, but I love the whole trash to treasure part of this. I confess to staying up way too late browsing Craigslists furniture section.
Rag Rugs - Specifically Swedish Toothbrush Rugs. Another use for those sheets. Out in internet land there is a woman named Philly and goes by Aunt who has great little starter kits. (Sorry about the riddle style writing - trying to go about this without out and out breaking the bumps new TOS).
Cake Decorating - Just the basics though. Some women on here are amazing - Dawn, I am looking at you!
Things I want to learn...
Quilting
Quilling
Canning
Loom Weaving
Bobbin Lace Making
Woodworking
Photography (not for any reason other then I am a horrible photographer - horrible).
Cheese making
Fresh pasta making
I tried this last spring. Apparently, we have a raccoon problem...
Also, there are lots of cats in our neighborhood that likes to leave "presents" in our yard and with that said it's not safe for a pregnant women to do much gardening in that kind of environment. But I did plant 7 blueberry bushes last summer (well I bought them and our landscaper dug the holes.. our soil was rocky). Fingers crossed for a good harvest this summer!
I am trying to blog about my pregnancy so I have it for my child or for future reference.. eveything is still private though. I was surprised how much I ranted and then how little I had to say.
Reading has always been a great pass time for me but I feel like I'd like to be more productive (in general).
Baking for DH's coworkers I've done a few times. They always love the baked goods but for some reason DH doesn't like to bring them... I've made plenty of batches that never made it to the office. And no it wasn't a bad batch, it tasted pretty good like most things I bake.
I always wanted to learn how to decorate a cake.
Not a practical skill but it seems like fun. I have the baking part down and if I can also make it pretty then all I need are people willing to eat 98% of it almost every time! Maybe if my baked goods looked pretty DH would be less reluctant to take it to work! 
Lol, I'm sure I'll ask that same question after the baby comes! I probably should volunteer. I should look into places like that. Thanks!
Honestly, if I could go back in time and talk to my pre-child self, I'd make sure to tell myself to take sewing lessons. It's always something I wanted to do, and now that I have a child, I'm learning at a snails pace. What the heck did I do with all that free time I had before?
And I use my limited sewing skills now, but I'd like to do more. I've fixed outfits and buttons and I've even made a E's birthday dresses, but I want to do more. I see the wonderful things some of the other crafty ladies on here do, and I remember how much my grandmother sewed, and how thrifty she was, and I just wish I had actually learned. I have a good machine now, and a teacher, but it's slow going.
I also highly recommend the book, Beard on Breads. He's the go-to guy on all things bread.
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