schatzi is German for my little treasure,or sweetheart, a term of endearment. Schatzi baby strives to create high quality, handmade treasures for your little loved ones.
Statement from owner and artist, Trista:
I have always played with color and expressed myself through the arts. I love quilting, watercolors, ceramics, gardening, papermaking (recycling of any kind,) and babies. (hint, hint to my husband)!
It wasn’t until an internship during grad school, that I really became interested in my lovely sewing machine and how she could hum!
I was asked to lead a quilting group at a day treatment facility for adults with major mental illness. Afterall, I was the art therapy intern and ALL artists must magically know how to quilt, right? Ironically I was teaching myself to quilt as I taught my weekly groups. I was inspired by my clients with schizophrenia, sewing away by hand, each one at their own pace. I was in love with the art of quilting!
Once you learn “the rules”, you can push the quilting limits even further. I wanted to see other possibilities, something beyond everyone’s grandmother’s symmetric and traditional quilts. I took a class on applique techniques but I found that way too tedious; someone suggested I just leave the edges. Soon, I was hooked on what I call “reverse applique”, where you leave the seams of your shapes exposed, to get fuzzy in the wash.
Quilting became my own art therapy, a way of forcing myself to slow down in busy Boston. I still let my sewing machine hum along but it was a break from the T and the horrible commute!
I began creating baby gifts for friends and family. Next thing I knew I was selling them; schatzi baby was born! Having an online store is new to me, since the word of mouth has always kept me busy. Huge thanks to my friends and family for the support and encouragement to begin this adventure. And an uber huge thanks to Bob, my brother in law for turning me on to shopify and creating this site!
Feel lucky that Russ, my husband doesn’t set the prices because he sees the amount of time I put into each quilt that I create. He swears schatzi baby quilts ARE works of art and should be framed. I use high quality materials to create one-of-a kind pieces.
Born and raised in Michigan, briefly inspired in Boston, schatzi now finds living and creating art in Orlando, Florida a bit warm. Some say turning on your A/C helps!