Jellybean Row Quilt Block

We're taking a stroll through the neighbourhood this month at Quilt Block Mania. If you'd like to take a fun selfie on our walk, why not stop in front of these colourful houses?

This quilt block is named after downtown St. John's, Newfoundland, where the houses' bright colours earned them the nickname Jellybean Row. A visit to Newfoundland is on my must-do list, so I'm hoping to see the Jellybean Row (and all the other sights this beautiful province has to offer) for real very soon.

Colourful row houses are not just a sight to see in the Canadian Maritimes, though, but can be found throughout the world, from Scandinavia to South Africa, Italy to Thailand, and pretty much everywhere in between. I've always loved the cheerful look of them, and if you've been around here for a bit, you know I love bright, fun colours for just about anything, not least quilts.

Jellybean Row Colour Inspiration

This quilt block pattern is perfect for playing with colour to make this street as fun and bright as you like. Instead of recolouring my digital mockup, though, I thought I'd give you some real-life inspiration from around the world.

Venice, Italy

Nyhavn, Denmark

Pattaya, Thailand

FPP and Traditional Piecing

Jellybean Row is an FPP quilt block pattern that will also be available as a traditionally pieced block once this pattern moves to the shop at the end of the month. It's suitable for confident beginners, since it does come with rather a lot of pieces, but none are difficult to sew.

If you are new to foundation paper piecing and want to give it a go, I wrote an FPP tutorial for the Clover blog to help you get started with the technique. It's a full photo tutorial and comes with a free, simple pine tree block to get you started.

If you just need to gain a little more quilty confidence, I have a few patterns in the shop that make perfect starter blocks to warm up with before diving into the more complicated blocks. Check out the Twisted Log Cabin, Popsicle, and Ice Cream Bar blocks to dip your toes in, or the Festive Forest table runner.

Using the Jellybean Row Quilt Block

This block is a fun one to use just by itself, but it can also be used staggered to make an entire colourful neighbourhood. The blocks are offset by 2.5 inches, which makes the road line up and keeps the staggered roof line going. Just add extra strips to the sky or the road to extend them across multiple blocks. Since the pattern is meant for scraps, more houses means a more cheerful look.

Whether you make a single row to use as a table runner...

... or make an entire colourful town for a full quilt, you can let your imagination run wild and use up all your colourful scraps.

Get the block

The Jellybean Row quilt block pattern is now available in the pattern shop.

*Quilt Block Mania blocks are free to download for the duration of the month they were designed for. After that, they are available in the pattern shop.

Don't forget to check out all the other Neighbourhood blocks this month!