In 2024, I traveled to Japan with a group of fiber artists, a trip sponsored by Okan Arts (see my blog entry about the trip).  While there, I shopped for vintage kimonos, each of which cost about $30 and, when picked apart, yielded more than a dozen yards of 18” wide silk fabric in beautiful colors and patterns.

I made Shinkansen using the fabric from two kimonos, along with some silk from my stash, and some silk ombre fabrics I purchased at the Yokohama quilt show.  I have no idea where the idea for this quilt came from, but I was conscious of trying to create a variety of contrasting textures, as is evident in the gold/green negative space and the border made of individually created round and square mini-quilts. The repeating “swoosh” motif  reminded me of  the renown Japanese bullet train, the “Shinkansen,” that carried me from Tokyo to Kyoto past Mount Fuji.