Band sampler stitching finished

Got some unexpected stitching time today - 4 hours of it - and managed to get, not only the stitching finished on the everlasting band sampler, but also all the beading and the trimmings! The snowflake at the top needs re-doing as I just noticed there's some thread caught around it. It was hard to attach that as the hole is rather too small for any needle to go through and I had to just poke one strand of floss through and hope for the best. If anyone has any ideas.... Anyway, it just needs finishing up into a bellpull now, for which I'll have to get an 'old' VS design out (old as in I've stitched it before) and look up how to do it as I've forgotten now. Oh, and it's not really blue, it's just bad lighting and camera problems.

Has anyone else noticed a distinct decline in blog hits and comments, or is it just me? I think it's the popularity of services like Google Reader that's leading to this. They're very convenient (although this blog looks dreadful on Bloglines) and I tend to use GR myself these days quite a bit, but it's a shame that so few comment nowadays and it can even be disheartening to see your visitor stats on Analytics plummet!! (No, it's nothing to do with the nice weather either!) And, hey! What's happened to the Stitchologist!!?? Where are you, Kate?