You didn't say what machine you have but I can totally sympathize with you. I had this happen to me on a Pfaff Creative Vision. I was so frustrated I wanted to scream. I finally found out that I was using the wrong free motion foot. I was using the one for the Pfaff 2170. The two feet looked exactly the same. Once I switched to the new creative vision free motion quilting foot I have not had a problem. No needle breakage at all. I couldn't believe the difference. Make sure you are using the right foot for your machine. Hope this helps.