AVALANCHE, Wis. - Susan Johnson’s handwoven rugs have been pictured in national magazines in the past five years. And for the last four years, area residents also have known her as the owner of the Pie store in Westby, Wis.

Last month, Johnson opened Avalanche Looms in a new red one-story building on the small farm that she and her husband, Daniel Arnold, bought in 1978 on the east edge of Avalanche.

She weaves rugs on her looms in the studio in part of the building, and sells the goods that Pie was known for in the other part. The latter include contemporary housewares, Johnson’s rugs, classic toys, books, greeting cards specialty soaps and other body-care products, fine chocolates, jams and jellies and maple syrup and honey from area producers.There are plenty of unusual items at the Avalanche Looms store, such as a very small red-and-gold suitcase made in Senegal from recycled metal. “It’s a kind of folk art,” Johnson explained.

“I like to buy things from people who operate on a small scale,” Johnson said of the products she carries. “I like to support that because it encourages diversity.” She also likes to carry local products - such as the maple syrup and honey - when she can find them. But there also are items made in other countries - such as Japanese paper balls and Mexican shopping bags.

“I wanted the shop to look like a traditional Swedish cottage, red with white trim,” Johnson said of her new building, which was constructed by her contractor husband and his two home-building associates, Steve Christenson and Chris Theige.ohnson closed her Pie store May 31, and opened Avalanche Looms on June 15.

She decided to move her business to the couple’s farm for the sake of simplicity. She had been weaving rugs on three loom’s in a small shop on the farm, and on one loom at the Pie store. “I think this is going to be much more economical for me,” Johnson said, and allow her to make more rugs. It takes at least a day to make each rug, she said. A part-time employee, Kathy Aaker, also weaves rugs for her.

If she can devote more of her time to weaving rugs, Johnson said, she might be able to make 12 a month: She also plans to offer weaving classes, starting this fall.

Johnson and her husband moved to Avalanche from Rochester, Mich., 22 years ago. She was an editor at a Detroit company that published reference books, and he was a partner in an art gallery in Rochester.

“We were sick of the city (the Detroit area), so we moved here,” Johnson said. “We raised some tobacco and some heifers.” They still live on and own their small farm, but no longer raise any crops - except for the 50 acres of hardwood trees they planted over eight years. “We mainly did that (plant trees) for equity, or maybe the kids will get something out of it someday,” Johnson said. Their children daughters Sofia, 14, and Ursula, 18, and son Carl, 11 - have helped out at Johnson’s store.

She has been weaving rugs for 18 years. “I started by saying I’d store a loom for a friend,” Johnson said, “Once I started weaving on it, I could see (in her mind) the next rug ahead of me that I wanted to make.” She soon began making rugs for sale at her farm.

Johnson opened Pie in Westby four years ago because “I wanted a little more exposure. And weaving on the farm can be lonely. A store is a very social thing, which is why I still have a store (Avalanche Looms). It’s good social interaction.”

Her handwoven, Scandinavian-style rugs have gotten her “a fair amount of publicity,” Johnson said. For example, her rugs have been pictured in Country Living and House Beautiful magazines and in the Chicago Tribune, which in 1998 ran a short article on her and a multipaneled rug she assembled from six rag cotton panels that she wove. One of her rugs also was pictured in the book “Weaving Contemporary Rag Rugs,” which is about contemporary rug makers.

The national publicity has prompted phone calls - and orders - to Johnson from readers around the nation. She is thinking about establishing an Internet Web site to further promote her rugs.

Almost all of Johnson’s rugs are custom made for individual customers. Johnson said she hasn’t had time to build much of an inventory of rugs that were not ordered by customers.

“I’m making something that has a strong visual and harmonious appeal to me,” Johnson said of the reason for the national publicity. “I think it’s the color, the design, the quality of the rug. It’s not factory-produced. People always want to know that it’s handwoven.” She weaves her rugs from cotton or linen.

AVALANCHE LOOMS

* WHAT: An Avalanche, Wis., business that makes and sells handwoven rugs and sells housewares, classic toys, fine chocolates, books, greeting cards, garden products and other items.

* WHERE: On Avalanche Road, on the east edge of Avalanche. From Hwy. 14-61 between Westby and Viroqua, take county Hwy. Y east 6 1/2 miles to Avalanche and go straight ahead on Avalanche Road.

* WHO: Susan Johnson owns the business.

* HOURS: Store hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday; noon to 4 p.m. Sunday; and by appointment.