WATERLOO - Suzi Parron saw her first barn quilt while driving through rural Kentucky.

The Stone Mountain, Ga., author stopped and asked about it.

"I wanted to know why it was there," she said.

For Parron, quilts aren't just bed coverings or keepsakes but a form of artistic and cultural expression.

"And here was this quilt block on a barn. Later I went online to get more information and to find a book on the subject and there wasn't one. I thought I'd better write one. I want to tell the stories of these barn quilts," she said.

Parron has been commissioned to write the book for Ohio University Press. She spent time this week in Black Hawk, Buchanan, Butler, Fayette and Washington counties, seeing barn quilts and meeting with enthusiasts as part of her research. Parron already has visited more than six states.

Barn quilts embrace an artistic and practical American craft and celebrate the nation's farming heritage, she said.

Iowa's efforts to create and organize a barn quilt trail through rural counties began in Grundy County, and includes Tama, Sac, Pocahontas and Greene counties. It is part of efforts to develop the National Barn Quilt Trail, which began in Ohio and has rapidly spread to include 24 states, such as Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina.

Quilt patterns like "Variable Star," "Log Cabin," "Bachelor's Puzzle" and "Friendship Star" and others are painted on square boards and fastened to barns; some are painted directly on the buildings.

Donna Sue Groves of Adams County, Ohio, is credited with establishing the barn quilt project. It began as a promise to her mother that she would paint a quilt square on an old tobacco barn on their property. As a field representative for the Ohio Arts Council, Groves recognized the importance of artistic self-expression through public murals as a way to foster community pride and tourism. On her travels through Ohio's rural countryside, she began envisioning blank barn walls as a canvas for public art, and recalling her promise, Groves collaborated with Peter Whan of the Nature Conservancy to paint the quilt square for her mother.

Rather than stop at one square, Groves suggested painting more quilt squares for neighboring barns, which lead to the creation of a driving trail. As more and more rural communities are bypassed by interstate highways, Parron said, the barn quilt trail invites visitors to slow down, get off the beaten track and explore the countryside. This brings tourism dollars into smaller communities.

Pat Gorman, a field specialist with Grundy County Extension, said the trails are being organized "at the grassroots." Gorman and her daughter painted the first barn quilt in Iowa about five years ago. Others in Grundy County embraced the idea, and now barns and outbuildings are adorned and featured on a county barn trail.

Ruth Ratliff, vice president of the UNI Foundation at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, is a barn quilt enthusiast. She photographed barn quilts for Grundy County calendars and will contribute photographs to Parron's book.

"I learned about barn quilts from Pat and I think it's a delightful way to slow down and enjoy the beauty of the Iowa countryside," Ratliff said.

The book is scheduled for release in 2011.