DoomBuggy

I really want to do some free motion quilting of an actual design on my quilts on my domestic but so far trying to figure out how to mark the design on the quilts has been an act of futility.

I really like the blue markers that go away with water. But I cannot see the marks on the dark fabrics and the "white" water soluble ones don't work. There is no visible mark and I've tried three dritz ones and none of them worked. They almost seem dried out. So I can mark the light fabrics in the quilt but nothing for the dark fabrics.

So, I got the pounce pad and a couple of the full line stencils. I got pink and white. Well, that was a complete waste of money. Yeah, after beating the poor pounce pads within an inch of their lives to get the chalk flowing, the result is a blurred mess that wipes away with barely a touch. It definitely works better when I do it on a hard surface but I have to wipe the pad across the stencil 10 times to get anything to show and the act of 10 wipes makes it a blurred mess and not crisp at all. If I do manage to get the whole quilt marked it will all be gone when I baste it.

I could try it after basting it, but on the softer surface, the pounce pad is worse than useless.

I've tried the sewline fabric pencil and I have the same problem of the line barely showing at all and to get a line that shows, I have to press hard enough to break the led or go over and over and over and over the same inch. That is going to drive me to drink to do on a whole quilt.

Is there any product out there that actually works?
What am I doing wrong?