The question:
How to present a long period of time in which you have been working on your own projects, trying out technologies and implementing things you "always wanted" to do?
Context:
As software developer, I quit last job because I realized I could not reach my potential as programmer there, as project quality was poor and managers had no intention of improving it.
I did learn though all the technical knowledge I lacked, and decided to do something about it.
That was 13 months ago, time I filled with many hours of reading and implementing, researching and playing with the new technologies.
During that time, I did several things that I think are interesting in my field: a custom php framework, a project using different design patterns, etc.
These practices, when studying under a program (University, paid courses, etc), look great in your resume. But when you do it on your own, it turns not to be that easy to show it as an interesting time inversion.
How can these studies be presented in a resume?