I push my needle as far as I can take it, but instead of pulling all the way out, I leave the eye end inside and, holding on to the point, rotate the needle arround and poke the eye end out as far as I can or need to. I can do this as many times as I need to to get as far as I want to go. Works best if the eye end is out of the batting but not through the top layer yet. That's faster for me than trying to thread a needle!