I originally envisioned the piece as a single piece of parchment colored fabric with the Crest and Badges on it. However as I was learning and struggling with creating my own patterns for the badges I wound up ruining the area for the Slytherin House Badge. I picked the thread out of that area four times before I decided that it was unusable any more. So,.... I decided that it would have to be done in pieces and sewn together.
This did lead me to renew my acquaintance with my long ignored sewing machine. We're now happily on speaking terms and are looking forward to more conversations in the future.
All of this started because of the wonderful House Badge art [link] that was coming out of Pottermore as I waited impatiently for the site to open to everyone. I was enjoying watching the drawings that were coming out of there, but... I can't draw, straight lines with a ruler can be a challenge.
Soooo.... cross stitch it I did. The creation of the patterns for the House Badges took a lot of time and I lost count of how many incarnations there were. I still have changes for the patterns that I will make when at a later point.
Right now, I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!