It's A Cynch!

I decided to try my hand at using the rulers with my Handi-quilter. I was very nervous at first. The longarm is still new to me. I've mastered loops, but need to add to my arsenal of patterns. So...I watched a YouTube video (my go to "how to" site) and decided I would stitch in the ditch using the straight side of the ruler. It is really hard to stitch a straight line on the longarm without help.  How hard can it be with the help of a ruler??? It was the easiest thing to learn! I started slowly, but as I gained confidence, I got a little faster.  Unfortunately, I got over confident and accidentally tried to sew straight through the ruler! Besides sewing through my fingernail, it was one of the scariest thing to happen to me! (Maybe I should have stopped and gone to bed sooner!) The machine set off a loud alarm, the needle snapped (thank goodness the thread was threaded or it would have flown off...possibly toward my face) and I had this horrible thought that I had just ...