Dinner and Chalk!

Now, I'm not a huge fan of placemats on my black kitchen table. I like the look of just the shiny black and it's so hard to fine the exact placemat that matches my kitchen, while being kid friendly. So in the past it's just been random kid placemats {because they will ruin the table if I don't use them} that I stash away when we have guests over. Until now!

I've had the Avocado Green quilting fabric for the children's clothes I make but then I found it laminated!! That's when I decided to go with this damask in the whole kitchen. This laminated fabric is kid safe and wipes easily but that's not all I did!!

Okay wait, first I just had to show the applique up close-of course I had to do the applique-these girls are possessive over their things;) Now onto the really cool part-flip the placemat over and...

It's a chalk board!!

Chalk fabric to be exact but you can use regular chalk and wipe it with a wet cloth-I just use baby wipes and it works great!

So while the kids are waiting for dinner, they doodle! Oh how I love this! Pretty on one side and fun on the other!

Yep, they like it.

So while I still prefer the black table when we have adult guests (unless some adult would like to doodle while they wait;)), it's perfect for every day use for the kids. Bennett still needs his suction cup placemat because this one will go flying but I can live with that...for now.

So this was relatively easy to do. There are lots of kinds of laminated fabric but my particular favorite is Michael Miller fabrics. And chalk fabric can be found on the web as well and possibly at a local fabric store. They are not cheap though but you don't need a ton. I just sewed the laminated fabric and chalk fabric together (wrong sides) and then used the black laminated fabric as the bias tape. That was a little more difficult. But the cool thing is, is that you could take these to a restaurant, just roll it up in your diaper bag (if you still carry one) and your kids are entertained and safe from germs;0

I think my kitchen is complete now! Onto the back patio-hope to share this at a later time!