Another bespoke motif from one side of the world to the other!

I had an order late last year from a lady in Sydney, Australia who wanted a blanket for her friend in New York. She decided that she wanted a motif that was a bit different to remind her friend of her and Australia and asked me to come up with a design for a koala bear. I did some research online and then came up with a design that is certainly a koala but retains the coodgycoodgycoo charm.

As the lady was coming over to the UK at Christmas on route to New York, she was able to get the blanket and delivery it in person. I was so thrilled to get the photo showing baby Emily with her mum, Jane that ordered the blanket and the blanket itself.

Remember, if you want something a bit different, a bespoke motif costs £15 and for that you get a design mock up before it is made.

The layered edge finish has been officially registered

I had some exciting news recently. When I originally launched my coodgycoodgycoo blankets, I designed an edge finish for my blankets that is not in use anywhere else. Of course lots of people finish the edges of their blankets beautifully e.g. edged with satin, edged with decorative blanket stitch, edged with jersey, simply overlocked...the list goes on. However the layering effect of the edge of my blankets is unique to me and so I looked into registering the design with the Intellectual Property Office.

After a lot of hard work drawing diagrams, sending in samples and completing the complex paperwork, the exciting news is that I now have a certificate to say that it has been registered. This means that the edge finish cannot be copied by anyone and I can use the word UNIQUE as it is true! So my website will be updated soon with the words "Unique layered edge finish".

coodgycoodgycoo is now international

I can now officially say that coodgycoodgycoo is truly international! Although the majority of my orders come from the UK, over the course of the last year I have shipped to Italy, Spain, Serbia, Germany, France, Ireland and South Africa.

I have even had an order from someone in Australia, who then picked up the blanket in the UK en route to New York where it was going to be given as a present.

Another favourite ordering story was when a lady from the UK ordered a blanket for a friend in Serbia. The recipient in Serbia ordered one for a friend in Italy. Friends of the recipient in Italy then saw the blanket and ordered one for their little boy and so the chain continued!

Bespoke order for a Rickenbacker guitar

I recently had a request for a very special design - a Rickenbacker guitar on a blanket with the name Rocco. I didn't even know what a Rickenbacker looked like until I did my research but I am so pleased with the end result. I had a lovely email from the person that ordered it saying that the Dad had recognised that the the guitar was a Rickenbacker straight away, so that was good to hear!

Bespoke designs are obviously more expensive due to the research and amount of work that goes into designing and making each one. I think that it is worth it though as the result is a totally unique blanket.

New cupcake motif for 2011

Cupcakes are so on trend at the moment so when someone emailed me via the coodgycoodgycoo contact page and asked whether I could do a cupcake motif, I jumped at the chance to design one.

I was so pleased with the end result that I have decided to include it in my range of motifs next year. This colour option is a purple case with white "icing" and a purple cherry, which looks great on a pink base. I will probably work on another colour option too that has a red cherry. Watch this space!

Baby Charlie, nearly 7 months on

My friend Dave has just sent me an updated photograph of his gorgeous baby Charlie lying on his coodgycoodgycoo blanket! I can't believe that Charlie is almost 7 months old now...how time flies! The blog entry on 20th May 2010 shows Charlie when he was only a few weeks old. It's lovely to see the blanket still being put to good use!

Baby Max

One of the things that thrills me most about designing and making the coodgycoodgycoo blankets is when I get lovely customer feedback, especially when it is accompanied by a photo. The grey and blue fleece colours work so well together and it made a lovely change to applique the car motif as this is not chosen very often. But as you can see from the photograph, it looks so cute! I have actually changed the car motif from the image that appears on the website - it is bigger and now has stitching to denote headlights, doors and handles! When I get a moment, I will update it on the website as I think that more people will choose it then!

Baby Cara

How about this for a gorgeous photograph? I was sent this by a customer who bought the blanket to give to her new niece Cara. Having seen the brown/cream colourway on the last blog entry for baby Charlie, she felt that this would be perfect and therefore requested to have this too. The result? A contemporary look that still retains baby cuteness! Look out for the brown colourway being introduced later on in the year.

Baby Charlie

I'm so thrilled to put this post onto the blog. One of my best friends Dave and his girlfriend Catherine, welcomed Charlie into the world on Saturday 27th March 2010. A few of us clubbed together at work and I made him this very special blanket... special because it used a new coffee coloured fleece fabric that I don't have in my normal range. But as it worked so well and because it will go beautifully with the colours already in use, I will be adding the coffee colour in a few months time!

Dante's Blanket

My friend Dave has just commissioned this bespoke design for his nephew Dante, who was born a couple of weeks ago. The whole family is musical and initially he was thinking of just the double quavers as a motif, but I felt that more could be done and so came up with this design containing the notes "A", "B" and "C".

Bespoke motifs can be ordered via the website - they are £15 each, including the initial design consultation and can be added during the normal ordering process. Just write down what you would like in the additional comments section!

Introducing Ernest...

I've been asked many times about the soft cuddly bear that appears in lots of the photos on the website. So I thought I'd give him his own post on the blog!

When I was thinking about how to convey the extreme softness of the fleece fabric, I came up with the idea of using a cuddly toy that was equally as soft. After looking around for a number of weeks, I came across this gorgeous little bear in a charity shop in Berkhamsted and paid just £1 for him.

He was the perfect choice and now sits proudly on my bed, waiting for his next photographic assignment!

Presents for my new nephew Sam

The first blanket I ever made, and what started the coodgycoodgycoo business, was for my stepsister Julia's first baby - Eleanor, who was born in December 2007. Well Julia and her partner Pete have just welcomed a new addition into their family - Sam who was born in December 2009, a few days before Eleanor turned two.

My mum and stepfather bought Sam a coodgycoodgycoo blanket and I made some bunting to go with it. Bunting will be a new addition to the coodgycoodgycoo range and will be launched on the website towards the summer. I know that bunting is very popular at the moment but I wanted to try and stay away from the traditional "flag" style and make something that co-ordinated perfectly with the blankets.

If anyone thinks that they might like to jump the queue and order some bunting, feel free to email me using the Contact Us page on the website - cut and past the following link http://www.coodgycoodgycoo.co.uk/cgi-bin/contact.cgi