I have only played with my pencils a little bit. I saw a demo at a quilt show. I put paper towels, a couple of layers under my fabric. I believe your bleeding problem is from the water running across the plastic under it. I used a water brush. That is what she used in her demo. It is a tube filled with water and it has a brush at the end. I think I found them at Hobby Lobby or Michaels in the artist paint or colored pencil section. Look at a picture on line first since the employees didn't seem to know what I was talking about. This was at least a year ago. I put a paper towel on top and ironed mine dry.
www.dickblick.com has the brushes. I guess you could use a regular paintbrush too. The water brush also works great to fill with liquid starch for applique. I love your work so far.