Your colors came out just fine! They do pop against the black. I like to do that too.
How old are your pommies? I used to have poms. We had a black male Chip was my best friend and a cream female Diamond they had two pups one black like dad and one cream just like mom.
Their life span is supposed to be 15 or so and Diamond lived to be 20.
Love the quilt looking forward to seeing it done!