Hello everyone!
Well I have good news.... my quilt is 90% repaired! I'm just waiting to give it to my friend who has a long-arm quilter, so she can redo the stippling.
There were a few lessons learned here, so I'll tell you about them! Firstly I got really distracted trying to think of some creative to do on the back and I wasted about a week trying things out, in the end when I had a bit of time pressure (someone wants to see one of my quilts tomorrow) I made a decision and did a circular patch in the same fabric as the back and that suited me just fine.
I unpicked the front which was a heart-breaking experience as it felt so destructive, but sewing it back on was nearly as good a feeling as unpicking it was bad!
Oh and would you believe I bloomin' well sewed the squares on the wrong way round to start with... yes, you couldn't make it up! I could only laugh when I realised I'd wasted an hour on it!
There is a photo of the finished repair on my blog if anyone would like to see it (I don't think I can post photos on here in a reply?)
www.mansellcyprus.blogspot.com
Thank you all for your words of wisdom, I really appreciated it and I know where to come with my next drama!