Top-of-the-Waves Tuesday...

...and the weekend report.

Well, I didn't quite finish my To Do list, but I got close!

• I set up the Star Trek tree and decorated it.
• I set up all my noisy Hallmark ornaments next to one of the villages.
• As I mentioned in some previous posts, the Star Trek ornaments and the Hallmark Light and Motion ornaments require a bit of extra work. Before putting them away after Christmas, I remove all of the batteries. That way if any of them explode, they do so in the box and not in the ornament.
  
  What that means is that I have to check all of the batteries before I put them back in the ornament. There were lots of batteries that went bad in the last year. I had to buy two 10 packs for two sizes of button batteries and I've gone through a lot of AAA and AA batteries just to get the ornaments working again. It takes a lot of time to do this, but it's worth it!
• I took all of the ornament storage boxes back upstairs.
• While I was upstairs, I hung the lighted garland on the loft railing and set up the timer.
   
• I decorated the Santa table - I have a bunch of stand-up Santas that I put on one side table. I put Mini-Sombra in one of the sleigsh next to Tigger.

• I didn't actually mail the fruitcake to my brother until yesterday. Thank goodness for flat-rate boxes!
• I baked one batch each of Mexican Wedding cookies and spritz. I also baked one batch of Grand Marnier biscotti. Baking = done!
• I didn't finish the tree skirt, but I got close! I bought a round tablecloth from Bed, Bath, and Beyond that was a little bigger than my feature fabric. I re-pinned everything and sewed the outside seam.
  
  Then I had to stop and think about which other seams I could sew and still be able to turn the skirt inside out. I made a little mock-up that allowed me to do a test run. Then I sewed the inside seam and one side of the skirt opening. I trimmed the batting around the outside seam and turned the project...voila! It worked. 
  
  Now I need to go back and zig-zag the seams before trimming the excess fabric. This puppy is going to be tough to press, so I need to find a space to do that. Then a little top-stitching and adding some ties to hold it closed. Of all of the things that need to make this work, the ties might not make it. For this year, I might just pin it closed and add the ties after we take down the tree.