Well I think the reason it's so beat up is because she uses it all the time. She claims she has it on the couch (chair or something) so when she's cold she just grabs it and uses it. I was worried about using the back to patch the front since it's the same fabric but on closer looking the back fabric has seen a LOT less light, so it's still a lot darker so the patches match but don't match. She just wants to be able to keep using it as a lap quilt and doesn't really care how it comes out, she says it's so comfy she loves using it (and I do see where she or someone has tried to fix a hole here and there and the fabric didn't hold, which is why I plan on patching instead of trying to sew up anything like it, but I've never done applique. I did just try to do a quilt with circles appliqued on it and am in the process or very very slowly quilting it now and it came out ok, and I have some minor experience patching clothes). Looking closer at the binding I'm thinking I might be able to only replace 2-3 parts of it where it's worn more than just the frayed edge and then do a zigzag or (sorry my brain isn't working this am the stitches you use to sew up the raw edges of clothes I can't remember the name right now) stitch around the whole thing once those places are covered. For some reason my grandmother didn't quilt a whole lot of it, so to protect all the edges of the fabric near the seams where they all were pieced I plan on doing a zigzag to quilt it to make it stronger (the parts she did quilt are all done with a zigzag so it'll at least match the style).