My daughter loves music and this is partially because of her phenomenal chorus and band teachers.

This year, she had the special opportunity to represent her school in an All-County Choral Festival.

There were almost 1,000 sixth graders singing together in a giant high school gym. We were very proud of the hours she practiced after-school with her classmates. We were also very appreciative of her teacher, Ms. Anderson.

One song they practiced all year and sang at this massive concert was called “Why We Sing” by Greg Gilpin. The song lyrics are:

This is why we sing, why we lift our voice,

Why we stand as one in harmony.

This is why we sing, why we lift our voice,

Take my hand and sing with me!

Nora sang this song often as she went around the house, and what I used to think besides “that sounds beautiful” is – Nora sings because she feels special when she sings, and she has teachers who believe in her. So I thought it would be an appropriate message for a rug for Ms. Anderson.

I found very soft wool to make this rug – brown like a teddy bear’s fur and blue-green from a kilt scrap. All my wool is from secondhand wool clothing that has been washed and taken apart, mostly by my Mom. Since rug hooking is much more popular in Nova Scotia than here, I get most of my wool from my Mom as Christmas gifts.

I changed the design a few times but found the simple words worked the best.

Thank you Ms. Anderson for making Nora’s last year in elementary school so memorable!