Robin: I was the very fortunate recipient of Izzy's first block, a 9-patch, in Boomerang 1.0 and I absolutely LOVE it! She did a wonderful job, and I intend to have a special place for it in my quilt so, yes, by all means, do 9-patches if that is your comfort zone!
Muriel: I work full time AND run my own wedding cake business on the side, but what I found to be helpful is spend time in the evenings while I am watching TV to select companion fabrics/patterns for each F8 I received, clip them together with bulldog clips, and put together into a plastic bin just for Boomerang. Then on other nights, I just spend time pressing and cutting fabric, again clipping the pieces to the pattern and putting into the bin. Finally, when I have sewing time, I can just grab a clip and the pattern, pre-cut pieces and envelope with the excess fabric (and sender's name/address) is all right there so I can sew up a storm when the time is right.
[As an aside, I am likely one of the last holdouts on completing 1.0 as when I signed up I forgot about this time of year being competition season for my children (they are musically inclined and get involved in everything, so most of our weekends are on the road @ competitions, etc.). I think I've got around half yet to sew, but I intend to get them done this weekend so they can get into the mail. Some of the fabrics just would not cooperate with my brain cells and tell me what they wanted to be!]
Hopefully this will help both of you, too. Welcome and have fun.
Odessa