The thickness of the ruler is key. For high shanked machine, the thickness of the ruler is the same as that the long armers use in their ruler work, so yes long arm quilting rulers will work. However, on short shanked machine, there is not enough clearance to use these thicker rulers so for those those machines, you need the rulers designed to be used with the short shanked machines. Just don't use regular cutting rulers as they are not thick enough to prevent sliding under the foot and causing needles to break and possibly timing to go out. OH, and yep, ruler work does take practice but I find it easier to do then regular free motion at least you have an edge to follow. Sometimes it helps to slow down your machine. I really haven't done much of it and now I purchased the insert that lets me use the BSR(stitch regulator) on my Bernina while doing ruler work.