Moonlight moments

You could count sunrises and sunsets, but why not take aslower approach to marking time by spotting each month’s full moon? February’s is the Snow Moon, so called because this can be one of the coldest months. Each month has a moon but because the lunar cycle is I days shorter thana calendar year, there’s an extra moonevery twoanda half years. Yes, it’s the blue moon.

- ANDRÉA CHILDS & NATASHA GOODFELLOW

What to do if you love where you live but there are no jobs? Create your own, of course. This is exactly what Iseabal Hendry, crafter of beautiful accessories made from woven leather and embroidered thread, has done. She has fashioned a life that enables her to live on the banks of Loch Carron on the west coast of the Scottish Highlands, just a few miles from the hamlet where she grew up. 'I feel most alive when I'm out in the hills,' Iseabal says, gazing through the window along the glen towards a trio of Munros (Scottish mountains over 3,000 feet high). But around here, you're either a fish farmer, a teacher or maybe a crofter. I think the dream for me has always been to be here, doing something creative."

The seeds of that dream can be traced back to a project during her textiles degree at Glasgow School of Art, when her class was presented with a table of high-quality leather hides and tasked with making something from them. While most people made a dash for the largest pieces, Iseabal was fascinated with the slivers of leather offcuts falling to the floor, and saddened by the thought that these might end up in landfill. Plaiting, weaving and stitching them, she eventually made them into a small collection of accessories. Just like that, I found my thing,' she says of what has now evolved into her signature style. And I've worked with leather ever since.

After graduating from art school, Iseabal worked as a visual merchandiser, but spent any spare moments she had developing and refining her leather prototypes. I'd grown up with an appreciation of craft - from boat building and thatching to basket making - and really wanted my work to be the best it could be,' she says.