Project Quilting Challenge 3 - Sweet Treats - brainstorming!

The third challenge for Project Quilting, Season 5 was posted on Sunday at noon CST.  We were busy prepping for superbowl festivities - but I read through the challenge quickly so that I could be brainstorming while chopping veggies, making salsa & guac, and maybe a little bit during the game.  {though most of the game was spent cheering on our awesome Seahawks to their superbowl victory!}

This week's challenge is "Sweet Treats" - read more about it here

While I really enjoy chocolate.... if you give me a choice between chocolate and fruity / sour / gummy candy - I will pick the fruity / sour / gummy candy 9 times out of 10.  Skittles are a fave for sure - also on the list?  Hot Tamales, Gummy Bears, and Rips.

Photo from bubblews.com

The timing of this challenge couldn't be more perfect!
a) thanks to the Seahawks star running back, Marshawn Lynch (aka Beast MODE) - and his love for Skittles - my 3-year-old has been running around the house for weeks now hollering "Beast Mooooooooode!" and "Skittles - - - Taste the rainbow!!!"

Photo from www.Seahawks.com

b) I have really wanted to make a rainbow quilt - but haven't had a reason to sew one.
c) My goal to challenge myself even more than each PQ challenge requires us to will fit perfectly this week!  Last week, my creation was far from my comfort zone - a funky, abstract creation.  This week...... rather than putting together a rainbow quilt using squares - or even half-square triangles (HSTs) into a chevron (which was my original plan for the rainbow quilt - prior to reading this week's challenge post) - I *plan* on working with CIRCLES!

I posted this photo {it's a cell phone pic!} to the "Challenge Quilts" facebook group - at this point I was about halfway through cutting out all the 8" diameter circles (not all pictured here).  A friend of mine sent me a text not long after - "What are you doing with those circles?  How do they connect?"  Yep.... my brain is not the only one that has to stretch when thinking outside the square!

By this point, my hand was RAW from cutting out circles {I have a circle cutter.... but the repetitive nature and the fact I think my blade is a *bit* dull were definitely working against me!}.  And both of my boys refused to take naps in the afternoon.  So I headed upstairs to try and do the dinner / play / bedtime routine..... which took for.ev.er. last night!  After the usual books / songs routine with Little Man #1 and a handful of trips back into Little Man #2's room (for more songs, or snuggles, or a little more milk, or....?!?!?!) - I headed back downstairs to cut the rest of the circles, iron them all again, and get to work.

Last night I sewed two "rows" of my quilt.  They are test rows - I need to see if the concept I'm considering is really going to work.....

*Fingers crossed* for better sleepers today / tonight so I can really give this idea a try and get some work under my belt!  Don't worry - I'll take lots of pictures along the way just in case this concept works! :)

Want to join in on the fun?  Check out Project Quilting and challenge yourself, too!!!