Originally Posted by AnnaF
Also for you quilters that use the air erase marking pencils or the blue marker that comes out with water, take extreme care with that. If the quilt is not washed/rinsed following the quilting to remove all traces ( you may not see them because you've spritzed with water) it is possible to have the marked areas to develop brownish stains on the quilt.
Anne, I think you are quite right. I almost always just rinse my quilts in cold water after quilting and then dry them. i've never had a problem. I've heard (can't say for sure though) that if you are using spray starch on your tops as you piece and then sponging off the blue marks, that the blue is not really soaking into the batting and that is what causes the stains later on. I have a hunch this may be correct, as that is what it feels like to me. But I give a good cold water rinse, spin the quilt out and dry it just to be sure. That has been very successful for me for about 15 years or more (maybe 20, now that I think about it! time really flies!)