12 Crafters Show Their First Project and Their Latest, Like a Scarf Knit at 10 That Mom Kept for 18 Years

“My first doily and latest doily”

It’s been over 10 years with dozen of doilies in between.

The first few rows always look like noodles and then it magically turned beautiful.

I frogged part of the first one to reclaim the yarn, then I thought I should take a picture first.

“My first attempt at shorts vs my second try!”

I’m not sure where I went wrong with the first pair. I was trying to follow a pattern, and it felt wrong, but I kept going with it until it became obvious that they weren’t going to turn out. I think I might have sewn the crotch pieces as part of the leg instead?

The second pair I made following this tutorial — I traced the pieces out of a pair of shorts I already owned. I made these in a few hours, while I had fussed with the first pair for over a week!

I’m not going to take these apart because they make me laugh, but I’m going to try the pattern again and see if I can make sense of it now that I have a basic understanding of how shorts work.

“I’m so proud to share my embroidery progress from 2014 — 2020. No talent here, just hours and hours of practice and hard work!”

She’s my cat. Her name is Purrl and she started me on my journey of embroidered pet portraits :) I also stitched her portrait in 2018!

We all start at different places and growth isn’t linear. What you don’t see between those images are almost 700 other pet portraits I’ve made that have helped me improve. The cat in the first image wasn’t my first embroidery either, I did a lot before it!

I’ve always heard “you’re so talented” like it’s a natural gift and not something I’ve worked hard towards.

“My very first project at age 10 vs my most recent project at age 28”

My mom is the one who kept the little scarf all these years and I know she is going to keep it for a while longer.

It’s hard to gage how long it takes me to make something. I remember the scarf taking such a long time to make, at least for my little child mind at the time. The gray project is actually a pair of stockings which I’ve been working on for about 1-2 months?

I’m so glad she kept a lot of my childhood creations.

“The first bowl I made VS now!”

“3 years of progress in blanket form”

I’ve been crocheting for 3 years now and wanted to show how much progress I’ve made.

From my first blanket for stuffed animals (yes, those rows were supposed to be the same width) to my latest blanket, I’ve come really far and am proud of myself for persevering! I’ve learned so, so much.

It’s amazing how much more even my stitches are now after thousands and thousands of rows.

“The first cake I ever ‘decorated’ vs the cakes I decorate at work now.”

The first cake was done in 2016 when I developed an interest in baking and decorating. I messed around some more with cakes and got hired at a bakery as a cashier in late 2016. From there, I expressed an interest to decorate and they started training me in late 2017.

It’s an ongoing process because sometimes we get cakes that we have never seen before but it’s always fun doing something new. It takes time and it can be frustrating but seeing people enjoy what you made makes it worth it :).

“2020 vs 2021 both painted by me. On the left is my very first watercolour painting, on the right is the one I’ve been working on recently.”

I try every day or whenever I can. I stopped making excuses, stopped whining about being miserable not having time to paint, I just found an extra hour or two between work, kids, chores — and I’m sooooo tired but have never been happier ! 😀

“My first and second quilts. Is there room here for men?”

My first quilt was from a strip pack, crib size. The second is a barn raising log cabin design, single bed size. There are many flaws which only I see, but my wife and I use these quilts every day.

The layout of the log cabin blocks was not my original plan, but when I was joining the rows I somehow got one upside down... derp! Rather than rip and redo, I just changed the plan. Kinda like the result.

“The difference a few years of practice make”

Redid the original because I wasn’t happy with it. This side-by-side really let’s me the my progress :)

I also like them both, I gifted the left one to a friend’s kid who’s favorite animals are squids and he was sooo happy. Made my day. But I can also see the improvement.

I absolutely fell in love with throwing about a year ago. Starting with a one-day “date night” class, which was my first time ever throwing. The piece I kept, pictured here, was not only my first pot, but also the very first ball of clay I ever put on the wheel (and the only one that didn’t collapse, haha).

After that, I took a 4-week course at the same studio, and I’ve been continuing off and on with an open studio access pass ever since.

I started taking pictures to keep track of how different glaze combinations looked, and ended up with a fun timeline of my pottery journey. It’s been cool to see the progress, from struggling on the wheel, to participating in my first sale, to creating pieces that I am truly proud of (even if they aren’t perfect!).

“My first ever cake vs my cake now”

2017 vs 2023

Practice for progress! Makes me so happy and proud that I didn’t stop trying

6 years but I stopped after the first cake, I just picked it up again 3 years ago. I was actually selling cookies but tried my hand again at making cakes and then giving them out to family first so I can practice! Now I make about 60-100 cakes a month :)