After the traumatic and painful experience of sewing my finger while basting a quilt edge, I vowed that I would never be that careless again!
The second time it happened, I decided to make a finger guard to avoid a third occurrence.
This home-made guard is constructed of acrylic plastic and shaped with a Moto-Tool grinder/sander.
1. A perspective view. The guard slides onto the threaded hopping foot shaft. A slot fits along the hopping foot horizontal area to prevent misalignment.
2. Horizontal view shows how the "hook" of the guard is only the thickness of the horizontal part of the hopping foot. This allows use of 1/4 inch ruler and needle threading.
3. A little sanding on the top of the hook was required to make clearance for the needle thumb screw.
4. The guard prevents my finger from sliding under the needle. Hopefully, I'll never get this close again, but just in case...

The guard does not get in the way when threading the needle nor block the view when working from the front of the machine.
The hopping foot has to be removed to install the guard. It was necessary to use HQ's instructions for removing and reinstalling the foot.