Curious Iowa: Why do some barns have quilt blocks on them?

If you’ve driven through the Iowa countryside, it’s not uncommon to come across barns decorated with colorful geometric patterns. Those adornments are called barn quilts and they are part of a grassroots art movement started by the late Donna Sue Groves in Adams County, Ohio in 2001. Groves’ quilt block was made to honor her late mother, a quilter, and to show appreciation for the barns that dot the country’s rural landscapes.

The project caught on as a way to honor family heritage and promote tourism in rural communities. Not long after Groves’ project launched, organized efforts began cropping up elsewhere. In 2003, Grundy County was the first to bring a barn quilt project to Iowa.

In 2007, the art movement arrived in Washington County, home to Kalona, the “Quilt Capital of Iowa.” By 2011, four barn quilt loops were completed.

The loops saw a resurgence in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic when outdoor and social-distanced recreation boomed.

Curious Iowa — a Gazette series that answers readers’ questions about our state, its people and the culture — looked into the development of Washington County’s barn quilt loops, the preservation of old barns and the stories behind the quilt blocks.

How did Washington County barn loops start?

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After reading about Grundy County’s barn quilt project, Julie Mangold was inspired to bring the project to Washington County. She recruited her husband Terry and other residents, and it became a joint project between Iowa State University Extension of Washington County and the Washington Chamber of Commerce.

“Part of the impetus was to preserve barns in the county,” Mangold said.

The committee drove through the county and identified barns that fit the criteria of being wooden and located on a paved road. The barns also had to have room or placement of a barn quilt that would be visible from the road.

For no cost to the barn owner, the quilt blocks were built, painted and hung. Years later, some quilt blocks have been repainted, still free of charge.

“From my perspective looking back, I think it was kind of a mistake to exclude some of the machine sheds because there were people that really wanted them and as time goes on, some of these barns have gone by the wayside,” Terry Mangold said “And some of them, the owners decided to re-side them and so they took the barn down ... and then decided they didn’t want to damage the siding by putting it up again.”

The committee established four loops: Amish loop, Agriculture Loop, Nature Loop and Liberty Loop. Each loop features quilt designs that match the theme. For example, the Amish loop uses colors traditionally used by the Amish, like black, blue and purple.

Committee member Kathy Ebert said because there are thousands of quilt patterns, the committee presented interested barn owners with a few options related to their loop. They steered away from designs with circles because they would be more difficult to paint.

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Ebert still has a binder filled with records of barn quilt patterns and the paint colors used. She showed The Gazette a rainbow design modeled after a photo.

“This one was actually a family’s quilt that they had that Grandma had made and I got to see the quilt and … we replicated that pattern on the barn,” Ebert said. “It’s unfortunately no longer there. The barn was in bad shape and they had to tear it down, but that was quite fun to do.”

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While the committee was forming, Rosemary Pacha of Brighton already had a barn quilt adorning her historic wooden barn. Pacha told The Gazette that her late husband Gerald knew someone at the Iowa Department of Transportation who was going to have a barn quilt made by the prison industry.

“He said ‘You can have it done that way too’,” Pacha said. “so we contacted them and … I could only use colors that were on the metal signs they make.”

Pacha was invited to join the Washington County barn quilt committee and even though she technically lives in Jefferson County, they included her barn on the Nature loop.

The committee decided to make their quilt blocks out of wood. Ebert said there was some trial and error involved in choosing the wood and paint.

The first year, they used two sheets of treated plywood and oil paint. Oil paint was not optimal because it took a long time to dry during humid Iowa summers. After trying acrylic paint, they landed on latex paint “because it gives and takes better with the seasons.” They also opted for marine grade plywood.

The project was supported by volunteers spending time to paint and hang the quilts, and even space to construct and paint them.

Ebert said it was especially fun to get a group together to work on the project and “make a day out of it.”

What do barn quilts mean to the owners?

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Barn quilts unaffiliated with the official barn quilt loops have popped up throughout the years, like Carol and Ron Wehr’s quilt block “The Honeybee.” The Wehrs produce honey.

“It just is our Iowa way of showing a little bit of personality in the midst of cornfields,” Washington Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Michelle Redlinger said.

The Mangolds have a barn quilt called “Cows in the Pasture” on their machine shed. The family used to own Buelingo cattle, belted cows that resemble an Oreo cookie. Julie said people loved the cows and while the couple no longer owns cattle, the quilt remains. The green blocks resemble the pasture and the striped squares are the cows. The border colors were chosen to represent the various colors Buelingo cattle can be.

“We have people stop and take pictures of this,” Julie said. “There’s a lot of interest in it.”

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Amy Green, of Brighton, is a self-professed “barn quilt nerd.” She’s behind the creation of two quilts, “Windflower” in her backyard and “Bear Paw” at the Brighton City Park.

Green lives in the home that used to belong to her grandparents, Georgia and Harold Mineart, and “Windflower” is a memorial to Georgia.

“I thankfully inherited a beautiful yard and a beautiful space,” Green said. “and so I picked a flower pattern. So, it’s kind of like her permanent presence of her flowers and her gift here at this property.”

“Bear Paw” is a memorial for the Minearts, who were active in the Brighton community.

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Green said when she travels with her children, they enjoy spotting barn quilts.

“They’re able to spot them and we kind of keep a tally,” Green said. “‘How many have we seen?’ and ‘we’ve seen that one before,’ that kind of thing.”

Anyone can hang a barn quilt. If they want to be a part of the official loop, they must be located on a route.

“The next time that we update our map and we go around and do a community survey, we’ll probably contact them to be on it,” Redlinger said. “But there’s no official outreach for [more] barn quilt loops.”

If you are interested in setting up a barn quilt tour, contact Redlinger at michelle@washingtoniowa.org.

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Comments: bailey.cichon@thegazette.com