I have been quilting on a longarm for 17 years and love doing ruler work. I did need to have an extended base on my machine so the rulers would not wobble and tilt. To begin I purchased a straight ruler about 10 inches long and 2 inches wide. Wonderful for SID, crosshatching and piano key borders. I also purchased a set of circle rulers that I use for feather veins, orange peel, continue curve and a great number of block designs. The circle set is odd numbers 1", 3", 5", 7", 9" and 11" bought from an individual many years ago. I do prefer the solid rulers and not the ones that are nested. I would recommend the straight edge and circle rulers to begin, get comfortable with them and add others later. I have added ovals that are nested and hard to use (taping them together helps a little). Have also added hearts, but find they seldom fit where I want to put them so end up cutting a heart from freezer paper, pressing it to the top and stitching around it. After all these years, I rely mostly on the straight edge and circle ones.