For Christmas, my sister brought me a quilt our mother had made her 45 years ago. It was the first quilt mother made. It was a double wedding quilt for my sister's wedding. Mother had used my sister's old dresses for the wedding rings so the quilt had lots of sentimental value. Unfortunately, my sister left the quilt with her ex-husband who had used it as a bed for his cats for decades. As you can imagine, the quilt is in shreads and the smell went over my entire house. I don't know why; but my mother did all of the hand piecing with #8 thread. Over 1/2 of the fabric in each of the wedding rings must be replaced and about 3/4 of the stitching has come out. I PM Jcrow and asked her what to do. She suggested tea dying the fabric I was using as replacement pieces. That worked wonders! So far, I have completed only a few blocks; but the one's I have finished look wonderful. I am using starch appliqué and making the repairs with #100 silk thread so you don't see any of my stitches. Fortunately, the binding, background and backing fabric held up and the hand quilting was done with quilting thread so that is fine. I figure that it will take me a year to finish and gently wash it as I am only working on it in my spare time. I am so glad I decided to work on repairing Mother's first quilt. I am amazed at how good the repaired areas look.
I encourage you to repair that quilt. If I can do it, I am sure you can. I've only been quilting for 3 years; but have learned so much and received so much encouragement from the people on the board. If I can help you in any way, please PM me.