I would never cut it up. I had that type of experience a short time ago. It was a quilt top made by my friend Helen when she was a girl. My friend passed 2 years ago in October at the age of 93 years.. It had been rolled and put away inside a white pillow case. There was some damage from age, but I very carefully did the repair and put a backing of 1 layer of fabric to match the black, biege and gray blocks. I did not use a batting as the synthetics might harm it more. Before I put the backing on, I sprayed with spray starch and pressed as good as possible. Following that and when it was thoroughly dried I put the backing and the top together. Fortunately it was a straight edge, so I made it Pillow Case style, Closed the opening I had left for turning, then did a running basting thread, corner to corner and spray starched again, then machine quilted it. It wasn't very large, about crib quilt size but now it is preserved and ready to hand down to my child who thought of Helen as her grandmother.