Doily Ramblings

I love designing. Most of my projects have been small ones. The only doily designs I've done were parts of round robins, and those were years ago. I don't think I've ever designed one from beginning to end all by myself that was bigger than a coaster or snowflake.

I mentioned that I'm playing around with the Valeire Square again. It is no surprise to me that my first motif should turn out to look complete at coaster size. But I found myself wondering what if I did this instead of that and then added this in the next round and it's growing! The problem is that just as I've got the idea I like to finish it off at its new size, I've also got ideas about where it could go next. It occurs to me that I need more centers so I can finish the current one as I envision it and then do it again with the other ideas. 

At some point I'm going to change colors again so I won't get bored with this project, but I find myself wondering how doily designers know when to quit. With round robins, the number of tatters involved determines when it is finished. So please tell me, how do YOU decide when a doily is finished?

Notes about the picture. The one with the dark outer rounds is the first motif and it is complete as is at 10 cm in size 20 thread. The other is still in progress. I haven't finished the tatting or eliminated the thread ends yet. The pic is just to give you an idea of how I'm playing with the design.

I like to design in color, but I will want to test them in a solid color before I consider any of them truly finished.