Thanks,
It was quite by accident that I came up with the coffee filter idea. I had been trying to refill a canister with 100 new coffee filters when the whole mess slipped out of my hands onto the (not so clean) floor. I tossed some into the compost bin and salvaged the rest for other projects.
For the container of 'the right size' - here is another re-purpose idea - those 4 plastic bed lifters, you know to make your bed higher up so you can fit even more junk under the bed? - well, they must not work because people are forever throwing them away. I use 3 of them, upended, to hold my flat bottomed coffee filters full of drying seeds.
