News : Newest barn quilt in county at Flickinger farm

Maurice Flickinger stands on his barn after installing his new barn quilt Tuesday, Nov. 9.

The new quilt features a red and blue pattern on a yellow background.

The family coat of arms had earlier been placed on another building on the Flickinger farm.

Maurice Flickinger and his new barn quilt.

Maurice Flickinger spent most of Tuesday on part of the roof of his barn on 24th Avenue Drive.

Flickinger and his wife, Joyce, recently purchased a barn quilt from Janice Jefferson of Dunkerton. Flickinger and Larry Kettler installed the quilt.

Barn quilts decorative wooden panels placed on barns or other farm buildings. They are called "quilts" because they use patterns that are often associated with quilt-making. Several organizations in Iowa are seeking to have more quilts placed throughout the rural areas of the state.

"You should have seen how I got it up," said Flickinger.

He said he used a rope and pulley to lift the quilt, and two sets of long 2" x 6" boards to guide it to its location.

Joyce Flickinger said people have asked why she did not put the quilt on the side of the barn that faces north, where she could see it from her window.

But she said she wanted people to be able to see it as they drove over the hill, where the barn stands out among the rural scenery.

The couple has lived on the farm since buying it 43 years ago, said Marurice. They currently rent the land to others rather than farming it themselves, he said.

The new quilt is a couple miles south of Minne Estema Park, on the gravel road that leads north from the curve of Highway 150 where the highway turns east toward Urbana, about four miles north of Vinton.