I’m a La Vie mint maniac. There are at least 10 empty cans stuffed into the side panel of my car right now. When they overflow I move them to the craft supply bag. In March of this year my Out of the Box group had a re-use challenge. The perfect opportunity to devise a purpose for these tins. (They’re the same dimensions as an Altoid tin.)

This is the second project featured in the Quilting Arts Gifts issue. My friend Barbara Houshmand and all the staff at Esther’s deserve a bi-line on this article.

Barbara and I were scheduled for coffee one afternoon. I showed up with a panicked look and bag full of not-quite-finished tins. I’d hit a wall as to how to finish up the mini-quilts sitting inside the tins. On top of that, the project needed to go into a UPS box later that day. Barbara calmly put on her reading glasses and pulled each tin from the bag. She looked each over closely and made two piles: “This one’s done” and “This needs something”.

We headed over to Esther’s and everyone working that afternoon got in on the act. Nancy put together the ribbon with the bird combo on the heart (so sweet). Esther’s has an unbelievable collection of ribbons and novelty buttons. The perfect solution for the “This needs something” pile. Barbara and I headed to the back area of the store and sewed the embellishments on.

Off to the UPS store. My arrival time 4:30 pm. Daily cut-off time 4:00 pm. Ugh. I took a deep breath, contacted Quilting Arts (gosh they’re so incredibly professional and supportive), and mailed it the next day. Very risky crafting.

Moral of the story: If you’re considering doing two projects that will be due on the same deadline just say no, if you say yes make sure you have incredibly talented friends that can prop you up when the inevitable project brain-lock sets in.