U should do what makes u happy....

For what it's worth...I "fixed" a baby quilt a few years ago for my sister. It wasn't this old though. She had made it for my first child in 1963 (she was 9). I had kept it through the years and decided to repair it for her first grandchild (6 yrs ago). In my case, some of the blocks had holes in them, but the quilt was otherwise in tact. I top stitched a new block on top of the torn one, and then put a new backing over the original (torn)one. Then I placed a large label on the back with the history of the quilt. The label became a family history of sorts.

It was hand quilted so I tied the new backing in order to leave the integrity of her orig. quilting. If you can't do this your mil whole quilt you could make it into a lap quilt.

Personally, I would try to repair it. But, that is just me... it's yours so you get to decide what to do with it. :)

if you look at it carefully you will see some worn-out places along what seem to have been fold lines. there are a number of spots that are simply worn through. you can't ignore them. . imo, this doesn't have a lot of life left no matter what you do. it would almost be easier to make a completely new quilt and insert bits of this one into it for remembrance sake, but the fabric would wear out before the rest of the quilt there also.

if you want to preserve it's history, why not keep the best parts and frame them for hanging, with a label describing the history. make one for each member of the family who you think would be interested. sometimes things can't be saved no matter how much we would like to.

That's what I would do to if it were mine. It's not a total loose, however, as mentioned earlier you could use the best part to make a lap quilt.

It's a beautiful old quilt and you're lucky to have been able to save it before it was thrown away.

My baby blanket is part of an old quilt, with a new top put over it. Now that top needs to be replaced ;) Our grandmother's were the queens of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!!

I am not going to cut into the quilt! I am going to put this on hold for the time being. When I go back to Texas in the fall I will meet up with one of our lovely board members and she will show me how to repair the quilt.
Thanks for all of your input.

I doubt it would hold up for a clothing article, but consider saving a portion and make it into a wall hanging.

My great-grandmother had 2 surviving quilts that aren't really saveable. I'm cutting 2 foot sections from each quilt and binding them and giving one to my sister and keeping one. Along with a nice photo of each, we can both enjoy them. My sister plans to put her's into a sort of trophy box (framed glass container that goes on the wall).

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.

I would also make a smaller quilt if possible and the rest make other things. A friend of mine salvages old worn quilts and makes everything from ornaments, dolls to putting a good block in a frame. Her items sell like crazy.