Book review "Quilting Possibilities- Freehand Filler Patterns"

What kind of surface are you using to mark your quilt on? A hard floor? Is the quilt layered already or are you doing it on a flat surface? The reason I ask is I tried to do it with the quilt already layered, on a carpeted surface, and had trouble getting the chalk to go through the stencil. It dawned on me afterwards that I probably should have done it on a firm surface before I layered the quilt. I tried using the plain chalk, and it seemed to go away too soon to even mark the whole quilt at one time. When I used the 'miracle' chalk, it stayed on, but I ended up with lots of chalk powder all over the room in an effort to get it though the stencil...any suggestions?