Whitney Ruiz Art

This one definitely brought out my inner child.

My husband and I went to college in Buena Vista, Virginia and there is a river near there with a path we would frequent. One day we noticed a swing tied to one of the trees.

We made some good memories by that swing. We kind of felt it was “our swing” since we never saw anyone else there.

My husband actually proposed to me there. He sent me a picture of the swing and told me to meet him “Somewhere only we know” – which comes from the Keane song we both love. Our friend Mariel also took some of our engagement photos there.

And then my dear friend Kent took one of those photos and made it into a beautiful art piece that hangs in our bedroom to this day. It must have been one of the times I was looking at the picture that the idea came to me to make an art piece of a tree swing.

Around this same time I was looking at the several sheets of pegboard I was given and trying to think of something I could do with them. I had been working on the wood embroidered fireworks and it finally dawned on me, “What about cross-stitch?” As a kid I had done a lot of cross-stitching, so why not take that skill and jumbo-size it?

So I grabbed some spray paint and started playing around it placement. I wanted it to be similar to “our swing” in Buena Vista, so I added some water and Blue Ridge mountains in the background.

I had some jute cord on hand, and wanted to see how a swing would look on it, so I gave it a shot. And then took some black yarn that I had and cross-stitched it on there to see if that would work. I was so excited about it!

I had the opportunity to go to Hobby Lobby by myself (which almost never happens) so I took my time in the yarn section searching and searching for yarn that looked like grass, and water, and tree bark, and leaves.

I started with a new piece of peg board, with the spray painted one as a guide. When I looked online to see if pegboard cross-stitching was a thing, most of the examples were of plain, non-colored pegboard.

It was actually very therapeutic cross-stitching an hour here and an hour there.

My sister-in-law had suggested making the swing out of wood and really playing up the different colors. So I actually cute the wood from three different sections so the wood grain would be accurate. Then I stained it and drilled holes for the jute string I would add.

I already had a frame made, since I made a different one for “Cherry Blossom.” So when I finished the piece and took a step back, I didn’t like it. It wasn’t colorful enough. So I tried the swing on the spray-painted piece and loved it. It was the winner, which meant I needed to cross-stitch everything over again.

I added in a few other colors and worked on it only two or three days before it was completed. I loved the thick yarn I found for the leaves. I was in love with how it turned out.

Then I braided the jute string for the swing so it would look more like rope.

I attached it to a backing that same day because I desperately wanted it displayed.

It’s so large (19×41 inches) that I didn’t really have the wall space for it. So I put it on the shelf next to the TV. My 5-year-old asked if she could play with the swing, and I was glad it was too high up!

I love the color it brings to the house, and the creative process of making it.