I think it's very nice of you to make a quilt for yoru ds's gf. If she likes bright colors, will she like the black? Or is that more of your color choice to add a little bit of you into the quilt? I like bright colors, but am no so fond of black. I made a quilt a while ago for someone at work. The whole time I was using black as sashing, I kept thinking, "Ugh, so not my color preference." But it wasn't for me.