here is my progress. I got a bit confused about the 9 patches also, so ditched in instructions and looked at the picture. I sewed the red to the 9 patches and then sewed to the strips.
Here is my progress so far. the star blocks and the strips that go with those rows, and the narrow row that goes between. I've got a dozen extra flying geese at this point. Didn't end up with extra red rectangles because I miscounted and was short 14 from what we were told to cut.