As I’m starting to sash blocks together that I’ve made at various points over the last almost-seven years, I’m noticing that I can guess at when I made each block based on certain factors. One of the most obvious ones is whether the stitching lines on the red fabric are drawn in blue or green chalk pencil. On Block H5 (top left above), the lines were blue, which shows you it’s one of the older ones. I started using mechanical chalk pencils (which weren’t available in blue) in 2018.

So, I guess it’s not actually carbon dating, it’s chalk dating, but the process of deducing is still fun.

The main benefit of the mechanical pencils, in my mind, is that the chalk “lead” is narrower than on the sharpen-able chalk pencils, which theoretically leads to more precise stitching and more accurate blocks.

And sure enough, Block H5, marked with the old blue pencil, was a full quarter inch longer on one side than it was supposed to be. I can do a little bit of fudging/easing when adding the sashing, but that proved to be too much. I ended up pulling out one of the old seams and redoing it, to get it a little bit closer to the expected 5” length.

Once I started thinking about how the epiphany of mechanical chalk pencils improved my quilting in 2018, I realized that there had been other epiphanies along my Dear Jane journey that had improved my stitching in other ways:

• In 2016, a few months into the project, I finally started marking the stitching lines on the edge of the block. I guess prior to that, it had not occurred to me that I’d ever get to the point where I put the blocks together into a quilt.
• In 2017, I learned the valuable lesson not to have any pieces cut on the bias at the edge of the block.
• In 2018, as mentioned, I started using more cool tools, including the treasured mechanical chalk pencils.
• 2019 was the year of creative pressing techniques, which may not have as much relevance for the sashing, but I’m hoping will really pay off when (someday) I hand quilt this thing.
• There were clearly other things going on in 2020, but I was still improving even then. I think the focus was just more on the mental/emotional benefits of hand sewing than on the techniques.
• In 2021, I rediscovered the value of backstitching before and after seam intersections – this was a game changer!
• Late in 2022, I realized I’d been going too far into the seam allowance towards the end of a seam, and I’ve really tried to focus on staying on the line even when in the homestretch.

These clues not only help me “carbon date” my blocks, they visibly demonstrate how far I’ve come and how much I have learned on my Dear Jane journey.

What epiphanies will 2023 bring? I can’t wait to find out!