♪♪ Motsick: There's a lot of beauty here.

We have wildflowers in the ditches, and there's a lot of natural beauty as we drive along the roadways.

And the scenery changes all the time.

Kohlsdorf: As you travel along the Western Skies Scenic Byway, it won't take long to notice vibrant colors stamped on old barns, peeking over ridges of corn, and sprinkled amongst lush, rolling hills.

Motsick: You're driving along and whoa, there's a barn quilt, you know, and they're just a lot of fun.

Kohlsdorf: Barn quilts were made popular in Guthrie County by a group of locals who wanted to add a little artistry to the community.

But to these residents, barn quilts represent much, much more.

Arganbright: We're standing at the Arganbright farm.

It's over 150 years.

The barn behind me has always been here.

It has been in our family the whole time.

My great-great grandparents all came over during the famine from Ireland and somehow ended up here in Guthrie County, Iowa.

And I always thought it had to have reminded them of home with the green hills and a thousand shades of green.

Well, when I do turn around and look at it, I think of all of those who preceded me here.

It was a lot of hard work, a lot of prayer, which got them through, and that's a big part of enjoying looking at it.

♪♪ But it's my identity.

There's no doubt about that.

All of this is -- I identify with it very much.

And... Wood: It's not a typical quilt.

It's just something we came up with.

My folks were big travelers, and memories growing up was always vacations and traveling and stuff.

And the compass rose, I don't know, that's how we're going to get our way home or that's how we're going to find our way.

And I got four older siblings and two younger, so that when the older ones would come home, they'd always want to get out to the farm.

And it was just -- that was kind of like the beacon, that barn quilt.

"Here's home."

Donahey: My barn quilt started because my husband's Irish, and I knew that someone here in town had an old, old quilt that came from Ireland.

It was given to a young woman when she emigrated from Ireland to the United States in the 1800s, and it came down through numerous people.

And this is the quilt that originated in Ireland.

I connected with the people who had the quilt, and that's how I came up with my design on the farm.

I wanted to honor the Irish heritage here.

Arganbright: I couldn't convey to you the sound means as much to me.

It is home.

I know the sound that the air makes through the trees and the meadowlarks, the redwing blackbirds.

That's all part of this.

So, it's made up of a huge canvas of belonging to and, again, the word "identity."

Yes, it's my identity.

I've done a lot of things in my life, but this is home and a strong sense of belonging.

Motsick: They are a form of Americana folk art, and I think the more people see them, just like me, they just decide, "Hey, I'd sure like to have one of those."

It's just a nice, little outing to find these.

They're all cool.

[ Laughs ]