Our little community is celebrating our 125th this July 4th. I volunteered to make our quilt. We completed the quilt about 3 weeks ago. The marking lines were the only thing that we needed to get off. I can't believe it...but they are not coming off..actually it is like the markings are just spreading.

It is the outside border that is a medium brown that we marked with Roxanne's marking pencil. I have tried to remove these markings with water and a soft towel. I have tried a spray bottle with warm water and a small amount of laundry detergent with no luck. Also, tried making the towel wet and removing the markings on the quilt that is dry. Didn't work. I'm not a hand quilter and I don't have any experience with this sort of a problem.

Needless to say, I'm just a little panic. I'm hoping with all the wonderful quilters here that someone will have a solution to this problem. Thanks for any and all help.

Is this the chalk pencil?

try alcohol

If worse comes to worse, I would throw it in the washing machine.

Here is a solution that works great on pencil marks. Maybe it will work on your markings.

Make a solution of:
3 oz rubbing alcohol
1 oz water
3 or 4 drops liquid dishwashing detergent

Place in a squeeze bottle and shake well. Wet the corner of a rough washcloth with the solution and rub over the pencil markings. Wet a second cloth with clear water and wring out; rub over the treated surface to rinse. Let the quilt air dry. Lines will disappear entirely when the quilt is dry. Heavy pencil marks may, however, require a second treatment for complete removal.
Submitted by Helen W. Rose, Nauvoo, Alabama

Have you tried hydrogen proxide? It is really good as a stain remover, is used in moderation and especially if it is a light color fabric. Do a test on scrap fabric first!

Well, Roxanne's is 100% chalk and supposed to be water soluable. I have found that cotton quilting thread some times picks up the colour from marking pencils. The pencil marks come off the quilt but the stitching retains the colour. I have seen a new product called Marking-pencil Removal by Quilter's Rule International. I wonder if this spray may help?
The last time this happened to me, I gave up and removed the quilting and quilted again with thread that matched the colour of the pencil marks. Luckily it was only a small quilt and I don't know if you want to re-quilt the border that is effected.

have you tried washing the quilt?
visit the web site of the maker of the pencil you used and see what they say to remove the marks- or check the package--and hopefully you have not done something to set it permentently already.
read somewhere --- erasers work to get pencil marks off- i would be (timid) with having to do that much rubbing- if its a large area- but i would start with the manufacturer and see how you are (supposed to remove it) then from there the quilt would go in the washing machine...
good luck- and ALWAYS TEST for ease of removal BEFORE marking any quilting....even if you used this marking item on your last quilt and it came out fine---test it on the next one...it might not work so well next time--some fabrics seem to (hold -on ) better than others.

I'd agree with washing the quilt. I've never had an issue with Roxanne marking pencil lines coming out when the quilt was washed.

If using the formulae above, don't use DAWN dish washing detergent. Aparantly there is something in Dawn that will set the marks.