Fill Whole Frame with Powershot A40

I have a Powershot A40 (not very experienced in using it) and want to take a picture of a wood sculpture piece that is about 5.5" wide and 9" high. I would like to fill the frame with this item. I have tried using the macro feature, i.e., pressing the buttons below the monitor until it shows the flower. I called Canon about this and they told me to have the zoom all the way out. To get all of the relatively small item in the monitor or frame, I have to get back at least 5 to 6 feet and then I lose the detail. What am I doing wrong or missing something? The wood piece has a lot of detail that I want to pick up in the photo.

Thanks
philfromTexas

If you have the whole object filling the picture area and can't see the detail you want, you need a camera with higher resolution. Your A40 has about 2 MP (1600x1200 pixels). Filling the screen at the long way with a 9" object, you're getting about 175 pixels per inch of subject. Perhaps you could post an example picture, and a 100% crop from it?