Thanks for the suggestion. I have already resized some of the leaves along the edges and have brought them in a little tighter since I posted earlier... it will create more space but will not increase the size of the background which is the real problem... it is shrinking. I have enough fabric at the top and bottom of the block but that right side has less than 1/4" SA.
If I can not get this to work, I might have to start over with a new much larger piece of background before it's too late... But before I go to that extreme measure, I will at least baste all the parts and see how bad it is at that point, and then see if I can pry them off.