how big is your top and how big is the backing you bought?
Perhaps the slip and slide techinique will save you.
Sally

I'm with you on a solid back!! The last quilt I made had a decorative background and ended up making the front side larger than I intended. Different strokes for different folks.

According to a quilt appraisor I once talked to, a pieced back represents more work, and increases the value of your quilt. Just saying!

Yeah, like others said, I agree to go with scraps from the front.
I've seen strips and whole blocks created.
I've even seen stuff totally off the wall.

I ran out of what I needed recently and used fat strips of the leftover stuff from the front.
If the backer is too detailed (with lots of seams) it can make hand quilting a challenge.
I say, be creative!

geez i learn every day that there are quilting rules i do not know about.....rules for buying fabric? well, i just buy what i like, and usually i finish the bolt off.....

I LIKE this idea.

I just finished a quilt and didn't have enough so I used all diferent colors on back. i like the back better than the front
Daryl

I have several quilts with white backs. The quilting on the front is such that the backs look like planned whole/cloth quilts. I love turning these quilts over.

My grandmother taught me 6 yds. Cut it in two. Split one of those in half length wise and sew each two the sides of the large piece. That way, there is no seam down the middle of the quilt back.

I blew it on my last quilt too... so I used a scrappy border around a length of my original backing fabric then added the not perfectly matched fabric along that border. The scrappy border hid the color slight variation wonderfully. I'm happy with results.