9-patches from my past

Hi! Hope everybody had a great weekend! Some of the things that kept us busy over the weekend:
*Getting things ready for a kids' consignment sale (I get to go shop early, tonight!)
*A mini date with my husband (that included dropping stuff off at the sale, and dinner too.)
*Family bonding=cleaning the basement/tv room.
*Signing us up for my job chart. In just 2 days it's already made a big difference. I read about it on V and Co. a while back. Thanks, V!
*Reading a good book, one that included stuff about sewing! And blogging! I'll share more, soon!

So, since I finished up my most recent 9-patch quilt top, I've been wanting to show off some of my early quilting projects. I have been wracking my brain and can't remember exactly when I made this quilt top, but I did it on my own, with no rotary cutter and my mom's scrap stash, when I was either 14 or 16. It was after my grandma helped me make my "ugly" polyester quilt but it might have been a couple years after, not that same year. Anyway. Here it is:

I know, pretty sad, huh? I think I may have made a template out of cardboard but even then I didn't do a very good job. Oh well. So, do you think I should keep it like this for posterity, or quilt it up and let my daughter play with it? I think it would look better quilted. I do love the memories that some of these fabrics have behind them--a couple dresses mom made for me and a baby toy she also made are all represented in this little beauty. :)

Fast forward several years to when I was starting to be a real, beginning, quilter:

I've liked the 9-patch block for a long time! This is my oldest boy's baby quilt. He's almost 11 and I think I made the quilt in 2001. The pattern for this quilt is from Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! : The Complete Guide to Quiltmaking (affiliate link) by McClun and Nownes, the first quilting book I bought. I quilted a star in each 9-patch:

They are a little hard to see and don't look as bad as I thought they would. They are pretty crooked and I remember being really frustrated at the time that I wasn't able to do a better job. I still feel like every single time I do free motion quilting, I get a little bit better at it, and I want to encourage anyone out there who is afraid to try free motion quilting, to just give it a shot. Make some potholders or doll quilts or just practice on muslin quilt sandwiches that you plan on throwing out later. You will get better with practice. I have a free motion quilting tutorial that I wrote up a while back that might be helpful, it might be helpful if you are new to free motion quilting. :)