♣ In the great and ongoing project of organizing my photos, I realized how many pictures I’ve taken of little vases and what a difference they’ve made around our house! So I thought maybe you’d enjoy a day of flowers, girlfriends . . . This bud’s for you! ♥
I look for vases pretty much the same places I look for old quilts: in yard sales, flea markets, and antique stores. Little vases can be tucked into small spots, bathroom window sills, bedside tables, or cupboard shelves — this turquoise one is on the sideboard in our dining room. A little vase doesn’t require an armful of flowers. Just a couple of blooms from the garden and voila! I’ve done something to make the day better!
This guy lives on the shelf over my kitchen sink. At night he cavorts with the Beatrix Potter people. ♥
We dug a hole in the backyard to plant a new dogwood tree this spring, and found this bottle in it! Joe brought it in to me. I was so happy. Hello, I said in vase language (which I speak fluently), Welcome back.
Off they go to the bathroom, next to my reading chair, to Joe’s-side-of-the- bed . . .
This is the best spot on earth for a human to put her nose. ♥
Was making a tray for tea, needed little spot o’ color in the middle . . . it’s just a plain old glass jar with something that grows wild from over by the side of the barn. ♥
Made this rose bouquet for the coffee table. There’s mint in it. So when someone smells a rose, they get a double whammy. Even innocent flower-lovers are my victims. ♥
My stove has a shelf. It’s my ever-changing seasonal stove-top scene that this little bouquet is the centerpiece of.
This bird vase is one of a pair I rescued years ago at an estate sale, hiding on a top shelf in the dark corner of a pantry in a very old house. My eye caught the white gleam, and I went, oh yes, come on down. Now they welcome guests at almost every dinner party we have.
This mini Grecian urn does duty year-round. For $3, this little vase has given more joy than any expensive fancy cut-glass vase could ever do. ♥
Old creamers and sugar bowls make wonderful little vases too. ♥ Would you like to see my vase cupboard? It’s right next to the kitchen sink; I knew when I grew up I would have a vase cupboard. None of these little vessels were expensive, but all of them have some personality trait that drew me in, like the yellow fish on the top shelf…he’s silly and he looks very good filled with flowers in the guest bathroom.
I’ve been stalking vases since I was in my early twenties, which means I’ve had plenty of time to pull this together. Was I supposed to look at the tiny one on the bottom shelf with the duck on it and say,
oh no, stay where you are, I have enough now? No. I rescue them, give them a good scrubbing, and make them feel useful again. I’m a green recycler of all old things. This just goes to show what a dedicated hunter-gatherer can do in her spare time. ♥ Like in the quote below, I am “glad to the wood.”
We felt that all things were like us people, down to the small animals like the mouse, and things like wood. The wood is glad to the person who is using it, and the person is glad to the wood for being there to be used. ♥ Native American brilliant person, Joe Friday.
I love little vases also and pick them up at flea markets and yard sales when I see one that just calls my name. I like to use them to brighten my office with wildflowers or roses, just about anything, sometimes weeds! But my favorite thing about little vases is brightening someone else’s day with a small bouquet of flowers. The only thing I ask of the recipient of these little bouquets is that they do the same for someone else and keep passing that little vase along to other people. Occasionally, a little vase will find its way home.
Sweet!
Thank heavens – I thought it was just me! I have so many vases (stored in an
old dry sink), that I told my daughter to not let me buy any more when we go
on our flea market adventures! (I still find them calling to me though!)
Me too Pat!
I have a “technical” flower-picking question….something that I always worry about concerning bringing flowers inside from the garden. Do you ever worry about bringing bugs into the house? I’ve brought flowers in to put in vases in the past only to find little “gnatty-flies” crawling on the wall or counter. UGH! So, I don’t often pick flowers to bring in…sad! I bought the cutest little square white jar (old Avon jar that must have had scented cream in it….dreamy little scent!) flowers on it and did pick a little mini bouquet and have it by my computer right now. Cheery! xoxo….kp
I don’t often get bugs with my flowers, but every so often one slips by, you can try shaking the bouquet out before you bring it in. Flowers are so nice to have, I think it’s worth it for a little bug now and then.
Susan, my grandmother collected ‘little pitchers’ … she traveled with my sweet grandad for his work, and bought these little pitchers, about the same size as your little vases. She had them all displayed on a curio cabinet which I found quite interesting when I was growing up…after she died I discovered a little tiny black binder that had all of the pitchers cataloged, each one had a little numbered sticker on the bottom. Many of them now sit on my curio shelves, a reminder of her and times gone by. I’m sure they were an inexpensive way to chronicle her travels in the 1920′s and 30′s ~
susanp
She obviously loved them if she took the time to catalog them, that’s very wonderful that you have them.
I love your site. This is the first time I’ve visited but there will be many more.
It’s just a “heartfelt home” place. I also have a collection of litte vases and bud vases. Glad to hear so many others collect them. I also love old lamps!
I do too, makes such pretty light!
I, also, have been collecting vases for a long time. Nothing brightens up a space like flowers and, surprisingly, it does not have to be a large fancy arrangement to be your finishing touch. A small vase of common flowers is a pleasing little gift to the eye and nose and senses in general. I love everything Susan Branch!!! Thank you so much for bringing happiness to my heart on many occasions when the pick up was greatly appreciated. By the way, your harvest stew has become a mainstay in my home and I make it often throughout the autumn and winter.
That’s so nice to hear! Thank you!
Susan my soul sister = vases are vessels for love, and you are in the vase that holds my heart!!! The other perfect vase is a teacup or teapot or even a little lonely salt or pepper that lost her partner thru the years. I am a lover of tiny stuff, so I kinda collect with that in mind. The other treasure is plates, collecting them, like vases, to put sweets on and pass around. I love Donna Hamilton’s “pass it on” rule, it will come back ten thousand fold.
xoxo!
Susan, Thanks for sharing all your vases. I love collecting little pitchers. I did buy my first vase this summer at an antique store.(Love those places.) The vase is a little girl with pigtails and she is holding her doll. I have it on my desk with pencils and markers etc. in it. You have given me so much inspiration.
Thank you Linda!
Love them all! Imagine my delight when on ebay I found a tiny little green ivy susan branch vase!!! It is on my scrapbook cubby shelf year round cuz i love her! Thanks so much for being you! xo
Don’t you wish you could hear the stories of old that these little gems could tell?
Like you, I adore to collect old lovely things and wonder what kind of life they have had. What conversations they’ve heard, who were the souls that loved them, who made them? I wonder, I wonder. One of my favorite collections is a large group of cordials that I have. Now don’t you know there must have been some good conversations to listen in on with those!!
I have an old pink transferware bowl, maybe my favorite of all the dishes I have. It’s old, with nothing written on the bottom, no pattern or maker, and I thought, “maybe this belonged to Abigail Adams.”
Yes, I do wonder!
I use my collection of shot glasses for smaller flowers: pansies, small rose buds etc. Very cute. God Bless You Susan.
Thank you Mary Beth.