I've worked out the Sandman timeline! or at least.. when the show's modern day events are taking place... roughly.
s2 of Sandman ends around June of 2023, since we see in 2x08 that Hob's girlfriend Audrey, who was very much alive in 2x01, died in June 2023
Lucienne says in 2x07 that Daniel is 8 months old
so 1x10, when Daniel was born, occured 8 months ago, meaning that the events of the Dream Vortex happened in October of 2022.
Unity says at the time (October 2022) that she woke up from the sleepy sickness 8 months ago,
which is presumably when Dream was freed and the gathering of his tools took place, in February of 2022.
Which, technically, goes against an interview statement that it was set in 2021, but as far as I know it doesn't go against any other information in the show itself.
1x06 may be an outlier, as it's not overly clear how much time has passed since John was defeated... but I think it is around late spring to summer as many people are hanging around in t-shirts, summer dresses and out and swimming in rivers.
However, this rough estimate does give us some interesting context for a few other dates surrounding the modern day.
the Calliope mini ep occurs midway through s1 rather than at its end - after Dream's defeated John, but before Rose becomes the Vortex.
Johanna and Rachel broke up in august of 2021.
Ethel was 20 when she was living with Roderick (Alex was roughly 16 at the time?), and had John when she was 21.
