Appliqués are a nice way to cover the oops in old quilts. My daughter had a very old simple patch quilt without batting which my grandmother had made for her she was about five. She loved it and took it to college with her as a "TV quilt." By the time she asked me to fix it, the quilt was literally shredded. What I did was gently install batting behind the top layer, placed it on top of a new flannel backing, gently pushed the shredded pieces together and then covered the top with the softest tulle possible. I quilted the whole thing on the frame with a simple, small meandering. Happy results!