HTTParty is escaping JSON

I'm using HTTParty to send data to a remote API, however the API is complaining because the JSON being sent by HTTParty appears to be being escaped, and is thus deemed invalid.

Here's what I'm doing:

query = {"count"=>1,
 "workspaces"=>
  {123445=>
    {"title"=>"Test Project",
     "description"=>"",
     "start_date"=>"2015-06-01T00:00:00.000Z",
     "due_date"=>"2015-08-31T00:00:00.000Z",
     "price_in_cents"=>8000,
     "currency"=>"USD",
     "status_key"=>130,
     "custom_field_values_attributes"=>[],
     "workspace_groups_attributes"=>
      [{"created_at"=>"2015-07-13T11:06:36-07:00",
        "updated_at"=>"2015-07-13T11:06:36-07:00",
        "name"=>"Test Customer",
        "company"=>true,
        "contact_name"=>nil,
        "email"=>nil,
        "phone_number"=>nil,
        "address"=>nil,
        "website"=>nil,
        "notes"=>nil,
        "id"=>"530947",
        "custom_field_values_attributes"=>[]}],
     "id"=>123445}},
 "results"=>[{"key"=>"workspaces", "id"=>123445}]}

Calling to_json on query escapes the JSON too:

"{\"count\":1,\"workspaces\":{\"123445\":{\"title\":\"Test Project\",\"description\":\"\",\"start_date\":\"2015-06-01T00:00:00.000Z\",\"due_date\":\"2015-08-31T00:00:00.000Z\",\"price_in_cents\":8000,\"currency\":\"USD\",\"status_key\":130,\"custom_field_values_attributes\":[],\"workspace_groups_attributes\":[{\"created_at\":\"2015-07-13T11:06:36-07:00\",\"updated_at\":\"2015-07-13T11:06:36-07:00\",\"name\":\"Test Customer\",\"company\":true,\"contact_name\":null,\"email\":null,\"phone_number\":null,\"address\":null,\"website\":null,\"notes\":null,\"id\":\"530947\",\"custom_field_values_attributes\":[]}],\"id\":123445}},\"results\":[{\"key\":\"workspaces\",\"id\":123445}]}"

Is this expected behavior to escape the JSON? Or I'm wondering if the hash I'm building for query is invalid for JSON purposes?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.